USA > Wisconsin > History of the First Wisconsin Battery Light Artillery > Part 3
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On the 28th of November we were notified there would be no regimental organization of artillery, but that each battery would be independent: also that two batteries were soon to leave for the front without arms. All was again confusion and surmises, and the "grape vine" was worked for all it was worth. What batteries were to go, and where to? Was it to the Army of the Potomac or to the Army of the Cumberland. or vet into Missouri? While some were indif- ferent as to the destination, all were satisfied so we went some- where before the war should end. Most. however, seemed to favor the idea of going to the Potomac and having an oppor- tunity of distinguishing ourselves under the command of the then rising genius of that "Young Napoleon," George B. Mc- Clellan. Still. days and weeks passed and no orders came to break camp, with or without equipments. Winter was upon us and little could be done in the matter of outdoor drill, but a non-commissioned officer school was organized for the bene- fit of those officers. It was in those schools that the founda- tion was laid for that efficiency which afterward won for the Battery the distinction of being the most self-reliant body of men in the corps to which it was attached.
However justly that reputation may have been won. it was an undeniable fact that there never was a time, from the day the Battery first crossed the Ohio River until it was finally mustered out, but there were men in the ranks or serving as non-commissioned officers who could have maneuvered, fought and managed the Battery in a creditable manner if every com- missioned officer had been at once disabled or removed. Aside from the mere matter of perfecting themselves in tactics, these schools had a direct effect in showing them the necessity for striet discipline in military organization, a fact they never afterwards forgot or questioned.
About the Ist of December, owing to the extreme cold weather, the camp guards were taken off, but the men left camp in such numbers and were spending so much of their time in town that it was decided to put the guard on again. At this many men from the other companies objected and assembled at guard mounting in large force. protesting that they would not permit a guard to be put on. Captain Foster, the ranking
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officer in camp, ordered the men to disperse, which they at first refused to do, whereupon he ordered Lieutenant Webster of the 1st Wisconsin Battery to man a gun and stand ready to enforce obedience at the cannon's mouth, if necessary. The men soon dispersed and the guard was maintained. The following day the 1st Wisconsin Battery furnished the guard, which went on duty without a murmur. The next day the 3d Battery showed symptoms of not responding to the call, but the assembling of four companies on a double quick had such a mollifying effect upon them that they readily consented. After that there was no further trouble in camp. If the 1st Battery, or any consid- erable portion of them, had joined the others in their obstruc- tive methods serious complications might have arisen.
In the meantime rumors concerning the artillery companies were plentiful. Marching orders were fluctuating. One day we were going into Winter quarters at Camp Utley; the next we were to be sent to Prairie du Chien, where barracks were to be provided for us until Spring. Then some fertile brain, who knew less about military movements than he did a few years later, was going to send us to our homes on half pay until the Winter should pass away. It was also rumored that we were to be sent to Indianapolis for the Winter.
About the last of November Adjutant-General Utley visited the camp and brought the information that the 1st and 2d Batteries would be paid off the next week and sent immediately to Baltimore. It did not please Lee Drury. Captain of the 3d Battery, to be left behind, and through the advice of Sam McPhail the order was finally changed to embrace the 1st and 3d Batteries. It being settled that we were to move to the front the absorbing question then was: What would they do with us? We had attained a considerable degree of efficiency in foot drill and the manual of the piece, but none at all in bat- tery maneuver with horses. Were we to be put into active ser- vice in the field. or were we to be put to doing garrison duty, while those we should relieve and whom were supposed to be well-drilled should go to the front to cover themselves with glory while we were perfecting ourselves for the slaughter. The weather had become decidedly winterish and no drilling could be performed with any degree of regularity.
Amidst all this excitement. speculation and expectation Thanksgiving Day was observed in the camp, and a turkey din- ner was given to the soldiers in Camp Utley. By referring to a letter written by Lieutenant Webster to the Galesville Tran- script we find the following mention of said dinner :
"Thanksgiving was celebrated in camp as nearly in the good old New England style as circumstances would permit. The Commissary furnished twelve hundred pounds of turkey, which the ladies of Racine cooked and brought in to us. accompanied
J. F. VEITS.
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with somewhere near three hundred and fifty pies, six barrels of doughnuts, six barrels of apples and various other things too numerous to mention. The turkey was necessarily cold, but I've no doubt that many a manly man's heart warmed, beneath a rough exterior, at this remembrance of Thanksgivings past and gone where were gathered around the family board those who were near and dear and whom they might never meet again this side of eternity."
The "next week" came, but with it no Paymaster or marching orders. It was now rumored that it was doubtful if we were ever required to leave the State, as there was already more troops in the field than had been called for by the Government. The situation had become irksome. There was a general opin- ion to the effect that it was our mission to serve as "home guards" to protect Lake Michigan from the west wind.
It was about this time that Colonel Anneka resigned, and an effort was made to have Captain Foster, who had received the nominal appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel, promoted to Colonel, but Adjutant-General Utley replied that the regimen- tal organization would not be maintained after the batteries left the State.
About the 20th of December it was finally determined by the military authorities that the 1st and 2d Batteries should go to Louisville, Ky., as soon as the funds should arrive for paying them off, and furloughs were issued, extending through the holidays. to all who wished to visit home and friends. The opportunity was pretty generally embraced by the members of the two companies.
Lieutenant Webster visited his parents in northern Ohio for the first time after leaving the paternal roof some seven years before, and while there was called upon by the aged par- ents of Phil Welch, who was a member of the 1st Battery. and whom they had not seen for several years. to learn what they could concerning him and how he came to enlist. The old peo- ple were Irish, and could not understand why Phil should want to go to the war, and his mother seemed to grieve sorely over the matter. This being just at the time when the country was excited over the international dispute with England over the Mason and Slidell affair. it was feared that war with that power might result therefrom. Of course everybody was talk- ing about it. and the matter was mentioned to them. I asked what they would think if war with England should occur ? Phil's mother spoke up promptly and energetically, saying that in that event "all of her boys and the old man should go. and if that was not enough she and the girls would go too." Happily that contingency was evaded. and neither the old lady. her husband or girls had to go to the war. At that visit she spoke of another son who was absent somewhere, she did
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not know, in fact, if he was alive or dead, but who, in fact, was alive and in the Confederate army, and who deserted at the siege of Vicksburg and came to the Union lines and was sent home. If we remember rightly, he found and met Phil in front of Vicksburg.
About the middle of January, 1862, the long looked and anxiously-hoped-for Paymaster arrived, and we were paid up to the 1st of January. Those who had been away on furlough had been furnished transportation, which was charged to them and deducted from their pay.
It required a little over $1.800 to settle this bill, while the sutler pocketed about $500. The Winter was then cold and sleighing good. All that could be done in camp was to per- form guard duty and keep warm.
At last, on the 23d of January, we broke camp and marched through snow knee deep to the depot, where, at 2 p. m., we started for "Dixie," which country we were to enter at Louis- ville, Ky. We were accompanied by Lee Drury and his 3d Battery, while the 2d and 4th Batteries were booked for Balti- more. We arrived in Chicago in the evening, where a good lunch was furnished the men in the Michigan Central Railroad depot, while the officers were taken to the Briggs House and furnished with anything mentioned on the bill of fare. While all this was furnished by the Railway Company it was done by contract and paid for by the State of Wisconsin.
Joe Millegan furnished a team, sleigh and driver. and Dick Richards and Carl Cameron levied on the surrounding roosts one night before leaving the State for poultry enough to sup- ply the command to Louisville.
From the time the Battery arrived in Racine until it struck the sacred soil of Kentucky there was one person connected with it in an anomalous condition, who. next to Captain Fos- ter, was responsible for its good discipline and effectiveness, and that was Sam McPhail.
It will be noticed that his name does not appear upon the muster roll of the Battery, and yet. up to the date of muster into the U. S. service, we all supposed he was "one of us."
He wore the private uniform. did private duty, messed with the men in camp. He had seen service in the Mexican War and knew what military service meant. He was also a lawyer and could also advise as to the legal aspect of matters in general. It is safe to say that no man was more popular with the men than he. In all their sport he took an interest, and when it came to story-telling and singing "The Rat Catcher's Daugh- ter" he was accorded the "whole bakery."
Now, it is safe to say that there were men in the 1st Wiscon- sin Battery that sympathized with the malcontents on the guard question, but McPhail, in a few words, would convince
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them that the best thing they could do would be to obey orders and ask no questions. In this matter, as in the Bishop episode, he exerted a good influence. But what was he there for? It was known to some of us that he received a Govern- ment draft as pay for services, while the members of the Bat- tery. as vet, received no pay at all, but no one thought of ques- tioning him about it. But we will let Sam tell his story as he has recently furnished it for these pages.
"How I came to be with the Battery is this: I was mustered into the United States service on May 12, 1861, at St. Louis, Mo., and took charge of Totten's Battery, but in five days was transferred to Cairo, Ills., and set to drilling the 18th Infantry, and in June, 1861, was commissioned Major and assigned to the staff of General McClernand and stationed at Fort Holt, opposite Cairo, on the Kentucky side. In July, 1861, I was ordered north to attend the rendezvous of the different States, Minnesota. Wisconsin, and Iowa, to report privately to the Adjutant-General at Washington what troops I considered fit to send to the front. Of course the Governor and Adjutant- General of each State were apprised of my order and kept in- formed of my doings and of my recommendations in regard to what troops were sufficiently drilled to enter the service. When I went to Racine I chose the 1st Battery, as I had many friends and acquaintances there, and although I drilled and stood guard with the boys none knew what I was or what I was doing. In December, 1861, I reported four Batteries ready for duty, and I recommended that they have ten days' furlough before they were sent to the front, which I think was granted. When the order came to march General Utley came to the camp at Racine and inquired for Major McPhail. He was told by the Captain that there was no such person in camp, but being told at what tent or camp to find one Sam McPhail he came to the tent of Cameron, Davidson and Ward, the Caledonia boys, and simply said to me, 'Take your place at the head- quarters.' I did so, and was aware of all the orders concern- ing the forward movements and made special request that Cap- tain Lee Drury, with the 3d Battery, be sent to Louisville in place of Captain Herzberg, with the 2d, as was first contem- plated."
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For all that it was known that McPhail held some sort of position above the rank and file of the Battery, it is doubtful if any realized his true rank to be so high as it was. Even Captain Foster was not fully aware of the fact until after we arrived in Louisville and had been assigned to Camp Irvine, some four miles from the central part of the city, when, desir- ing to report in person to General Buell, he rode into the city for that purpose, accompanied by McPhail as an orderly, and
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on arriving at headquarters had requested an orderly to state to the General that he wished to report the arrival of his Bat- tery, and was referred to the Assistant Adjutant-General, while McPhail, who had sent his name into General Buell, was promptly admitted to a conference with him. The next day Major McPhail left the Battery forever, and was present at the battles of Henry and Fort Donelson, as well as many other important battles of the war. There was ever, and yet is, a warm place in the heart of every man of the first installment of the 1st Wisconsin Battery membership for the genial, gen- erous, jovial, patriotic Sam McPhail, with or without the rank of Major.
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CHAPTER IV.
"You are going far away, Far away from poor Jeannette; And the vows that you have spoken I know you will forget." .
W E left Chicago via the Louisville, New Albany & Chi- cago Railway at 11 p. m. Nothing of interest occurred during the night, but at Michigan City our cars went on a Y to reverse the train. . Cameron was on guard at the door of his car, and as he formerly had lived in that country was on the lookout for acquaintances.
Much to his delight he discovered on the platform one to whom from boyhood he had "owed one," and as he was going to war and as there was a possibility that if the debt was not then cancelled it would appear against him on the other side of the "divide" he decided to correct that part of the record without further delay. So while the train was backing and filling Carl stacked his musketoon, jumped off the car and onto his "credi- tor" and polished him in fine style. But before he had com- pleted his job the train was out of sight. He managed to get on an engine and get to the next station, from which place he took the next train for Evansville, which he left at LaFayette, where he remained until the next day, when he came on and joined the Battery at Louisville.
In the meantime there was consternation "in camp," it being reported that one of the 1st Wisconsin Battery boys had de- serted. Captain Foster was, of course, justly indignant to think that one of his men should prove so recreant to his duty and so disloyal to his country as to not only leave his post with- out leave, as paradoxical as it may seem, but to desert his com- mand and comrades just when there was a prospect of his ser- vice being of some benefit to the Union cause. He telegraphed to Michigan City to have Cameron arrested and sent forward, but no person answering his name or description could be found at the latter place.
At LaFayette, Ind., we were furnished with coffee and re- freshments and greeted with cheers upon cheers by the pa- triotic Hoosiers. The ladies were first and foremost in all demonstration. At every window, door, and gateway were seen waving handkerchiefs, and at every station and stopping place they were to be found with cheering words and smiling countenances to bid us God-speed upon our mission. No man could then travel two hours in Indiana and have any doubts as to her loyalty.
At Bloomington, where we arrived about 9:30 p. m., we were
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met by a delegation of ladies with loaded baskets of bread and cakes, turkey and chicken, attended by boys carrying cans of hot coffee, and we were soon besieged, captivated and con- quered. We remained over an hour at this place, and long will it be before the hospitality and kindly greeting of those bloom- ing ladies of Bloomington will be forgotten.
The whole route through Indiana was one continual wave of handkerchiefs, tablecloths, hats, caps, aprons, shawls and night caps, or anything else wavable. Even the clothes drying on the lines waved us a welcome as we passed. Little children too small to sit up would lie on their backs and wave their feet and hands while they "hurrahed for the Union."
Saturday morning, January 25th, we arrived at New Albany, Ind., about four miles below Louisville, where we remained until 4 p. m., when we crossed to Louisville and were quar- tered for the night in a large tobacco warehouse. In the inean- time Cameron had followed on, arriving in Louisville, and joined the Battery soon after its arrival at the said warehouse. He, too, had been fed and banqueted all through Indiana and had his canteen filled with "red licker." It was a chilly night and Dick Kimball, who was Corporal of the Guard, questioned him with "Got anything in that canteen?" "You bet," replied Carl. Whereupon Dick seized it as contraband of war and "hit it hard," as did a group in the corner playing "loo." Obe Lindsey-did Obe have an enemy in the Battery? or was there a man in it who did not have a friendly feeling for the good natured, happy, genial blacksmith, who was his own worst and only enemy ?- who had been indulging in the cup that both cheers and inebriates, appeared in a shivering condi- tion and asked Dick where he could get warm? Dick pointed to an immense castiron pillar which supported the upper floor and told Obe that he had seen some of the boys warming by that smokestack. Obe approached it holding out his hands and drowsily proceeded to warm, occasionally swaying toward it until his hands would touch the cold iron, when he would quickly withdraw and inspect them for burns. After getting thoroughly warm he rolled into his blanket for a little more sleep. Cameron thought that was good enough to deserve a drink, so he crossed over and tendered the canteen to Obe, who took on fuel enough therefrom to warm him for sure. It at least rendered him impervious to the cold.
The next morning was Sunday and bright and clear. The Battery was formed to march to the fair grounds, some four miles from the business center of the city. Cameron, who had not yet been reported to the officers. fell into his place on the left flank of the right platoon and trudged along as if he had never made a business of deserting. Lieutenant Anderson was commanding, and during the course of the march he turned in
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his saddle and with stentorian voice commanded: "Close up !" "Guide ri-Where-in-h-1-did-you-come-from?" he demanded when his eye fell upon Cameron.
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As we marched through the city we could but note the con- trast in weather between Wisconsin and Kentucky. We left Racine on Thursday, leaving one foot of snow on the ground and good sleighing. Arriving in Louisville two days later we found children going barefooted and the ground bare and free from frost. We were very cordially received, but with nothing like the enthusiasm we had witnessed on our way through the Hoosier State. Many of the children and a few grown people would hurrah for the Union, but the total of patriotic impulse was lacking as compared with that we had left behind.
From Louisville to the fair grounds, it being toward evening, we passed by a wooded tract of land the tree tops of which were thickly dotted with mistletoe. As that was something unknown to men so recently from the "frozen north," there was much speculation as to what rara avis should so plentifully abound so near a large city. It was finally decided that they were turkeys; also that a foraging raid should be made on them at the earliest opportunity. With the 1st Wisconsin Battery to determine was to execute, so that night several parties made their way out of camp, fully bent upon a turkey dinner for the morrow. It is needless to say that they came into camp if not "sadder" yet "wiser men." Plain army rations were good enough provisions for that day. It was not long, however, be- fore poultry of various kinds began to follow the boys home from the country-in some instances it was said geese had chased them two or three miles.
We had left the comfortable wall tents which had accommo- dated six men each in Racine and were here supplied with Sib- ley tents-one to seventeen men. - This was a new revelation in Army life. Where all the occupants of a tent were lying down at once, they had to lie "spoon fashion" and all turn over at once. It was a happy day when those tents were finally cut into ribbons and left at Cumberland Gap, a few months later.
Bringing with us the musketoons from La Crosse, and which had been used at Racine for guard duty, we now for the first time mounted guard with loaded guns. The relief guard would discharge guns each morning preparatory to cleaning the same, and Obe Lindsay declared that his gun kicked him over and then kicked at him twice after he was down.
We had scarcely reached camp before it commenced raining --- and such rains. In 28 days it rained 2S times and 28 hours each time. The rain that raised the river and let Noah's flat- boat off the sand bar and saddlebacked it on Mount Arrarat was "some rain." but it is small potatoes to one of those Ken-
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tucky rains which sets macadamized roads afloat and raises the. whole country.
It should be remembered that Lee Drury's 3d Battery accom- panied us all the way and were sharers and partakers of all the good cheer and good victuals en route to this place, and were now camped alongside. It was too wet and muddy to drill by battery or even by squad, so a non-commission school was or- ganized in the Captain's tent for the benefit of those subordi- nates, where they studied and recited their lessons in tactics. "Bean holes" were dug and the uninitiated were inducted into the mystery of cooking beans as the Almighty intended them to be cooked, and as no Boston caterer can equal.
As many who read this may not understand the modus oper- andi of cooking beans in a hole it may be as well to explain the matter here and now.
A bean hole is a hole dug in the ground about sixteen or eighteen inches deep and about fourteen inches in diameter. In this hole a fire is built and kept burning. The beans are put over this fire in a mess kettle and parboiled until ready for baking. When boiled enough a piece of pork and a little sugar or molasses are put in and a mess pan turned over the top of the kettle. The fire and ashes are then taken out of the hole, the kettle of beans set therein and covered up and over with the hot coals and ashes, and topped off with a little dirt, where they are left to bake all night. When opened they are a dish fit for the most fastidious epicure living. It was from this method of cooking beans that the Battery became known after- ward as "The Bean Hole Battery."
The foraging tactics inaugurated at Racine were here con- tinned, and after mules were drawn parties reached out even to surrounding villages. Some incidents were :
One man who had lost a good part of his flock of geese, came to camp and. laying the matter before Captain Foster, asked permission to search the quarters for signs of his missing prop- erty. The Captain, of course, knowing his men were innocent of even leaving camp at night. to say nothing of appropriating to their use that which did not belong to them. granted said request. The search resulted only in finding some feathers at the rear of the Captain's tent, and they came out of a pillow that had been destroyed because that was easier than cleaning it (?). The man was convinced that no geese were in camp, but was not so sure there had not been.
One morning there was a large Newfoundland dog in camp, he having followed a party of the boys home from a raid on his master's chickens. It was thought that the dog was convinced that he would get nothing to eat at home while the soldiers staid in that vicinity. so he followed them to camp. Be that as it may, he remained with the Battery until on the retreat from
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