USA > Wisconsin > History of the services of the Third Battery, Wisconsin Light Artillery in the Civil War of the United States, 1861-65 > Part 3
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Great praise is due to our non-commissioned offi- vers and privates, whose terrible loss in the short space of ten minutes testifies the terrible fire under which they were while working their guns. I cannot mention an instance of cowardice during the action.
For several days prior to the battle I had been suffering with neuralgia and severe headache. which continued. and I was hardly able to sustain myself in
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saddle, and nothing but an overpowering desire to be with my men in the struggle kept me from leaving the field.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CORTLAND LIVINGSTON,
Lieutenant, Commanding Third Wis. Battery. CAPT. G. R. SWALLOW,
Chief of Artillery, Third Division.
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Report of Lient. Cortland Livingston, 3rd Wis- consin Battery.
Camp of 3rd Wisconsin Battery )
Near Murfreesboro, Tenn., Jan. 5th, 1863|
Sir: I would report as follows the part taken in the actions of Dee. 31st, and the 1st, 2nd and ard of January, 1863, by the 3rd Wisconsin Battery:
At daybreak on the morning of December 31st, we moved from camp with our division and crossed the ford at Stone River to theeast, and Murfreesboro side. We took a commanding position in battery. In a short time we were ordered to recross to the west side and take up a position commanding the ford. ( All the troops that crossed were ordered to recross. ) The 3rd Brigade under Co. Price supported our flanks. Very early in the action the enemy gained on our right wing and many wagons and ambulances, moved across the ford. A hospital was established in some buildings there. Inquired of an officer and was informed we had infantry pickets and a small force of cavalry on the other side. About 12 m. I saw a great stampede among the ambulance wagons and stragglers opposite, and was told some rebel
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cavalry were charging on them. I was fearful of making a mistake and firing on our own cavalry. We could not see the enemy until he got among the wagons and was taking them off. We then opened fire upon them and disabled two wagons which blocked the lane and obliged them to leave without their booty: I think they got off with only five wagons. They left one man killed and carried off their wounded. We shelled the woods in the direc- tion they had taken. We expended 50 rounds of amuni- tion that day. The only casualty was one man,- Henry S. Utley-wounded in the thigh slightly. Jan- uary Ist, (Thursday) the battery was advanced across the river with the third division. under com- mand of Colonel Beatty,-with orders to protect the left from any flank movement, but not to bring on a general engagement. After moving forward about half a mile we discovered two regiments of infantry on a hillside. Wethrew a few shells among them and they withdrew to the woods on their left. We fired very little that day, only when we saw evidences of their massing troops. We had one man-A. J. Uline- slightly wounded by the sharpshooters.
Jan. 2nd. This morning we discovered the enemy had erected a fortification on the brow of the hill, one and one-half miles to our front. Soon they opened fire on us with their 24-pounder brass pieces. We did not reply and they did us no injury. Soon they moved their guns nearer to us and more to their right; this gave them a flank fire and we found it very dangerous to remain there. We were ordered to withdraw and take a position one-half mile to our rear .
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and left. About half an hour after we had done so, we saw the enemy had drawn up in line and was ad- vancing in great force. Just then Gen. Rosencrans ordered me to change my position, so that I was a little late in opening my fire. The enemy advanced steadily driving in our pickets. Our fire was very effective but their ranks closed up immediately. Soon I saw our right had given away, that rested on the river. A heavy column had advanced under cover of the river and its skirt of woods, and had flanked the troops stationed there. I then sent my cannons across to the west side and seeing everything giving way, I sent one section at a timeacross, still working those that remained until the others were over. When the last section reached the ford one regiment of the enemy was within 100 yards of it and poured a galling fire into us. Many of our horses were shot dead in the river but our brave boys cleared them from the teams and everything was got across. We opened fire on them as soon as we had crossed, though many of our cannons had not yet come up. We opened fire at three different positions after we crossed and soon after the enemy gave back. We crossed to the east side to sustain Gen. Davis and took a position in advance of the one taken the day previous, Jan. 1. We expended this day 300 rounds of ammunition. Our fire was very good, disabling two of the enemies' limbers and killing their horses; but our fire was directed mostly at their advancing lines. We lost nine horses, two sets lead harness and had two men-Sergeant Hollenbeck and David Robin -wounded, not seriously.
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Jan. 3rd. We had remained in our position assigned us by Gen. Davis all night and until noon this day, before we were relieved. Our horses had had nothing to eat for 48 hours and our men were wet with wading the river and without shelter from the cold, pelting rain; but when I told them it was the imperative order of Gen. Davis and of vital neces- sity that we should hold out a little longer, they cheerfully obeyed. Gen. Davis kindly divided what little he had to eat with our men, as did also Colonel Beatty the day before. We had no rations issued since the 30th and our provision and forage wagons had been sent back by order of some one. At 11 a. m. we were relieved by the 26th Penn. Battery and fell back a little to feed. At 11 p. m. recrossed the river by order of Capt. Mendenhall and took up our old position on the west side, commanding the ford.
Jan. 4th. Remained at the ford until 5 p. m. when we were ordered to this camp. We have ex- pended in all 358 rounds of ammunition; lost nine horses, two sets of harness and have four men wounded. Present for duty, three commissioned offi cers and 107 men.
Yours, etc., CORTLAND LIVINGSTON. CAPT. SWALLOW,
Chief of Art. Brig., 3rd Div .. Left Wing, Army of the Cumberland. -
Extract from report of Colonel S. W. Price, 21st Ky. Inf. commanding 3rd Brig., 3rd Div. Left Wing, Army of the Cumberland:
"On the morning of Dec. 31st. my brigade was
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ordered from the position it held, on the north of the N. & M. railroad, across and on the east side of Stone River-crossing the river at a ford about one mile be- low where the railroad crosses it. At the top of the hill and about one-half mile distant from the river, on the east side, I formed my brigade on the left of the Ist brigade. No sooner had I thus formed my bri- gade than an order came from Brig. Gen. H. P. Van Cleve, commanding the 3rd division, to cross the river at the same ford, and for me to arrange it so as to overlook and command the ford. I accordingly recrossed and stationed the brigade on the crest of the hill; the 8th Ky. Inf. on the right of the front line, the 3rd Wis. Battery (Lieut. Livingston) on the left of the 8th Ky. * * * About 2 p. m., 300 or 400 rebel cavalry appeared on the east and opposite side of the river, and made a dash at a number of government wagons containing camp equipage. Before they reached the wagons, Lieut. Livingston, ever viligant and prompt in the performance of his duties, opened a sharp fire of artillery on them, killing three of them and somewhat confusing the remainder. Notwith- standing they succeeded in starting off a number of the wagons, but during their hasty retreat the artil- lery disabled one of the wagons thereby blockading the road and saving the wagons in the rear.
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Extracts from report of Capt. Jno. Mendenhall, chief of artillery:
Dec. 31, 1862, the left wing started to cross Stone River at about $ a. m .; but before a division had crossed. intelligence was received that the right was
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falling back. Lieut. Livingston, having recrossed the river with the brigade, took a position commanding the ford, and about 12 m. opened upon the enemy's cavalry, while attempting to drive off some of our wagons which had crossed the river and were near a hospital we had established on the other side. They were driven away with little booty.
During the night (Dec. 31) the batteries were re- supplied with ammunition, and I directed them to take positions as follows before daylight, viz: Lieut. Livingston (3rd Wis.) commanding ford on extreme left. During the morning (Jan. 1st) Lieut. Living- ston was directed to cross the river. He was assign- ed a position by Col. Beatty, and Capt. Swallow took his place commanding the ford.
Jan. 2nd, 1863. During the afternoon Col. Beatty changed the position of Lieut. Livingston's (3rd Wis.) battery to near the hospital, across the river.
At 4 p. m. Lieut. Livingston's (3d Wis. ) battery, which was across the river, opened upon the advanc- ing enemy and continued to fire until he thought he could no longer maintain his position, when he crossed one section at a time and opened fire again; the firing ceased about dark.
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STATEMENT OF THE MILITARY SERVICE OF THE THIRD BATTERY, WISCONSIN LIGHT ARTILLERY
VOLUNTEERS.
As shown by the records, the 3rd Battery, Wiscon- sin Light Artillery Vol., was organized at Racine, Wisconsin, and was mustered into the service of the United States to date. October 10, 1861, to serve three
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years. It was attached to the light Artillery Batta- lion, 3rd division. 21st Army Corps, and participated in battles as follows: Lebanon, Tennessee, November, 10, 1862; Rural Hill, Tenn., November 18, 1862; Stone's River, Tennessee, December 28, 1862 to January 3, 1863; loss, four men wounded. nine horses killed; Chicka- mauga, Georgia (reconnoissance toward La Fayette, Georgia,) September 13, 1863; and Chickamauga, ·Georgia, September 19-20, 1863; loss, Chickamauga campaign, two enlisted men killed, one officer and thirteen enlisted men wounded, eleven enlisted men missing, five guns captured and thirty-two horses killed.
Brigadier General Horatio P. Van Cleve, com- manding the division to which this battery belonged, in his report of the Chickamauga campaign, dated September 30. 1563, says: "The non-commissioned officers and privates of the batteries have my warm- est thanks for the pertinacity with which they stood by their guns when surrounded by the enemy. I am happy to inform them that their praise is on the tongues of all who witenessed their conduct."
The conduet of this battery in the battle of Chick- amauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863, is also highly praised in the report of Lieut. Cortland Livingston, commanding the battery, dated September 27. 1863. as follows: "I wish to express the greatest satisfac- tion in the good fighting qualities of our men, for greater bravery under such severe circumstances could not have been shown. * * * Great praise is due to our non-commissioned officers and privates, whose terrible loss in the short space of ten minutes
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testifies the terrible fire under which they were while working their guns. I cannot mention an instance of cowardice during the action."
The battery was mustered out of service at Madi- son, Wisconsin, July 3, 1865.
Official statement respectfully furnished to Hon. John L. Mitchell, United States Senate.
By authority of the Secretary of War.
F. C. AINSWORTH, Colonel, U. S. Army. Chief Record and Pension Office.
Record and Pension Office, War Department, March 2, 1899.
RECOLLECTIONS BY WM. PLACKETT.
Readers of the history of the late war are no doubt familiar with the reply of General Geo. H. Thomas, to General Grant, who, when ordering him to take command of the army of the Cumberland "to hold Chattanooga at any cost." "We will hold the place or starve," and although it was a hard job, and necessitated great labor, and much sacrifice on the part of the rank and file of the army of the Cumber- land the promise was kept and the place was success- fully held by the remnant of the old and tried army of the Cumberland against a victory-flushed and over confident enemy, strong enough to completely envelop the little remnant of our army, and loose troops enough to prevent getting supplies by any of our ordinary lines of communication. The little army worked manfully day and night for quite a time put- ting up breastworks for protection, as it seemed to be very likely, if not a certainty, that the enemy
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would make a rush on us in our weakened state and try to take the place by storm, but it appears that for some reason, or reasons, he did not take that method, and endeavored to starve us out. By taking possession of Lookout Mountain and Will's Valley, the enemy had cut our railroad communication with our base of supplies and to reach our nearest depot of supplies ( Bridgeport) we had to take a circuitous route over the mountains, and hills, a distance of over sixty miles; every mile of which was swarming with mounted enemies, on the keen look-out to prevent our getting supplies from that or any other direction, and hundreds of wagons were captured and burned by then, and the mules taken for their own service; such was the need of men in and around Chattanooga to hold the place, that no very considerable force could be spared as a sufficient guard, so that it did look for a time as if Gen. Bragg had hit the right nail on the head, by trying to starve us out. As soon as the army had fallen back to Chattanooga, and its real situation understood, the rations of the men were much reduced in quantity, and as the difficulty and uncertainty of getting more supplies became more apparent, they were reduced still more until towards the last of the time just before being relieved by other portions of our army from the "east," it seemed that almost next to nothing was issued, and such was the seareity of provisions, that for several days we had one pint of shelled corn issued to each man for the day's subsistence, and for quite a while we had no . meat of any kind: coffee or sugar either. Some men require more food than others, and this will account
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for what I saw at different times, which was, men picking up scattering kernels of corn, that had been scattered by horses and mules while eating. The men would wash the corn, thus obtained, and then parch and eat it, the ration of corn they had received . from the quartermaster not being sufficient for them. Now when people read in history that over three thousand mules died in Chattanooga during the siege and the winter following, and wonder at it, they would no longer wonder if they knew that the mule feed had to be given to the men to keep them from starving. And all the time that we were under this state of things, the enemy were not sleeping, but kept us in mind in a very emphatic manner that he was right on hand for business, for it was "pop, pop, pop- pety, pop, whizz, sereech, serish" and boom all the the time on the picket lines, but under all these dis- couraging conditions the tried and true old Army of the Cumberland had never a thought of giving up Chattanooga. Oh, no.
As a matter of course we had lots of rumors in camp about various measures that were said to be taking place for our relief, but we knew nothing posi- tive for a long time. We did get quite a chunk of encouragement one night, as we distinctly heard the sounds of musketry firing and some cannonading over in what is called the "Wauhatchie Valley" for we believed that some troops, which had been sent for our relief, were getting near at hand, or were driving the enemy from our "eracker line" and it made the boys "yell" as they listened to the sounds of bat- tle, especially as the sound, growing more distinct
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seemed to intimate that our men were pressing the enemy back, and would soon open communication with us. This was a movement ordered by Gen. Grant and carried out by Generals Hooker and Howard, having for its object the shortening of our "cracker line" and was a complete success, and although owing to the occupation of the Lookout Mountain by the enemy, we had to make a rather crooked road, it shortened our route so much that all prospect of Bragg's starving us out was quite gone. I wish to record here that as far as my observation extended, the Army of the Cumberland cheerfully accepted the situation, having faith that if they held on manfully some effective measures would be taken for their relief, and in this they were not disappointed.
A few days after the "affair" in the "Wanhatchie Valley" I had my first look at Gen. Grant, and must confess. that I saw nothing in his appearance that struck me very forcibly, excepting perhaps. his very quiet and calm manner of viewing everything, and there was nothing in his manner that would suggest the thought "this is the man of destiny" in our country's crisis, which indeed he proved to be.
That Gen. Grant was about to do some work that would change theexisting state of affairs, in and around Chattanooga, we soon had abundant evi- dence, for Gens. Hooker and Howard, had moved up their forces nearer to Chattanooga, and were in a position to strike, or to help strike a blow when needed, and about two months after the seige com- menced we saw Gen. Sherman around, and we were quite sure that with Grant, Sherman, Hooker and
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Howard, and last, but not least by any means, Gen- eral Geo. H. Thomas, (who had stuck to us all through thick and thin) with us, something was cer- tainly going to happen-and it did, and it resulted in what caused great rejoicing, not only in our little camp but all over our land.
In writing what I do of this battle and the sue- ceeding one of Missionary Ridge, I wish to say that as our battery was so completely disabled by its losses at Chickamauga that it had not been refitted, and were doing any and all sorts of garrison duty, and so I was at perfect liberty to use my time in viewing these battles without taking an active part in them, and in this manner had a better opportunity for observation than if directly engaged.
The morning of the battle of Lookont Mountain (Nov. 24) the sky was completely overcast with heavy clouds, that hung low down, and com- pletely shut out from our view the top of the moun- tain where were stationed a force of the enemy. That a movement was being made by our troops to gain possession of this mountain we soon had evi- dence in the frequent and rapid discharges of muske- try and occassional cannon shots in that direction, but the misty clouds hid some of the moves from us. and we could only guess the position of the contend- ing forces from the sounds, most of the time. At night however we could better discern the position of the troops by the flashes of fire from the muskets, and once during the night it was quite a vivid scene, showing a long line of fire shooting straight out in het direction of another line of sputtering and irregu-
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lar firing. After a time the firing grew less and soon ceased altogether, and the next morning the clouds had cleared away enough so that we could see that the enemy were gone and our boys had possession, and the Stars and Stripes were waving from the pin- nacle of Lookout where two months the "stars and bars" had waved.
Thus ended the battle of Lookout Mountain, called by many writers "Hooker's battle in the clouds," and now Hooker was ready to sweep down into the valley between Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge and co-operate with Sherman and Thomas in driving the enemy from Missionary Ridge. Part of the movements made during. the battle of Missionary Ridge took place where it was an absolute impossibility for me to see them. those of General Sherman's troops especially, and of them I can only say, that his troops went up the river on the opposite side to Chattanooga and crossed the river near the mouth of Chickamauga Creek, and came to the northern end of Missionary Ridge near the railroad tunnel and made his attack on the enemy's right flank, and with his usual impet- uosity and vim he pushed him so hard that he weak- ened his center to support his flank and one object of his attack was thus gained. In the meantime while General Sherman was getting into position after crossing the river, the Army of the Cumberland, under Gen. Thomas had moved to their position, and as if on parade, commenced their part of the battle, which they did by making a simultaneous attack on the rifle pits of the enemy along their whole front, and
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soon they put them to rout, causing them to fall back upon their firstline of works near the foot of the ridge. The next move was on the breastworks at the foot of the ridge and the sight to me was a mag- nificent one when the gallant Army of the Cumber- land once again moved forward to attack the enemy.
As soon as that line of blue had got fairly started towards the enemy's breastworks, and thus came into full view, the whole length of Missionary Ridge became a vast sheet of flame, the red-mouthed cannon belching forth flames and smoke, filling the air with bursting shells directly over the heads of our advanc- ing troops, and whole sheets of flame from the thous- ands of muskets stationed in the breastworks, filled the air with hissing bullets; but nothing daunted by this terriffic show of war, on they pressed and soon with a loud cheer they announced the works were theirs.
After the boys had taken possession of this line of outworks, a brief halt was made, but it was not of long duration, for in a short time I saw the line starting up the side of the ridge, on the top of which were thousands of the enemy, who, as soon as the line began moving in their direction, poured incessant and deadly volleys of musketry into the ranks of our advancing troops; but undismayed and as if there were no enemy in their front. that magnificent line of blue, with "old glory" with its stars and stripes dot- ted here and there along the line, kept steadily climb- ing the ridge, and at that time I did feel proud that I was a member (if only a very humble one) of the Army of the Cumberland, and to this day, many years since it happened, I can see that line of blue as
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it slowly fought its way to the top of that ridge, and a thrill of admiration for my old comrades of the Army of the Cumberland, takes possession of me. Still our boys continue to press their way to the top never halting or faltering, and notwithstanding the brave and determined efforts of the men behind the breastworks at the top, with a rush and a wild hurrah our boys take possession and hold it, and the battle is really over for the day and Chattanooga is ours to keep.
There being nothing in the way of duty to hinder me, I thought I would like to go upon the "ridge" and as soon as we saw the "stars and stripes" on top, a few of us went there and saw some of the evidences of the fierce nature of the conflict the men had gone through. The fatalities were not as great as I ex- pected to find them, considering the fierce artillery and musketry fire our men were exposed to all the time they were making the attack.
The evidences of the unexpected departure of the enemy was in sight in the shape of abandoned artillery, stores of various kinds and small arms lying around. By the time this had occurred and the lines adjusted properly, it was quite dark, and the next morning a move was made to ascertain the whereabouts of theenemy, with the result that it was found that he had retreated in the direction of Dalton, . Ga., where they had considerable fortifications . in readiness for them. The Army of the Cumberland remained near Chattanooga, Gen. Sherman going to Knoxville, Tenn., to relieve Gen. Burnside, and we soon had plenty to eat once more, though the winter of '63 and '64 was quite cold, and we were quite un-
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comfortable with cold some of the time. I have a a distinct recollection of having got up out of my bunk several different times at night to build a little fire in a sort of fireplace we had made out of brick: this was to try and get a little warmer than I could by staying in my bunk. In evidence of its being a cold winter for us boys, will say that my diary of that time (diary now in my possession) says that on the 22nd day of March, 1864, there was quite a snow- storm at Chattanooga and nearly, or quite, 8 inches of snow fell. But for all the discouraging circum- stances, the boys tried to be cheerful and mainly were so; some of them would take pleasure in attending prayer meetings, others would be pleased to play the violin and flute, others again would give impromptu "solo concerts," and occasionally one would be found dancing "juber" with someone to help. We got in quite an excitable state of mind once during the win- ter: it was this way: We heard some distant ean- nonading over in the Wauhatchie Valley where Hooker's troops were camped, and soon heard mus- ketry firing and nearer cannon shots, and everything in camp was got in readiness to help Hooker or repel attack if made on us, and a troop of cavalry was rent out to ascertain if Hooker needed help and all the while the infantry was in arms and artillery ready for business, and when the cavalry came back they reported that Gen. Hooker was fighting a sham bat- tle to keep his men's hands in.
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