UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS LIBRARY
AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
ILONOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY
- *
'LI E> R.AR.Y
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
Of ILLINOIS
ILLINOIS HISTORICAL
Ninety-Second
Illinois Volunteers.
" What we say here will soon be forgotten ; but what they did
here will ever live in the Nation's memory." Abraham Lincoln,
at Gettysburg.
FREEPORT, ILLINOIS:
JOURNAL STEAM PUBLISHING HOUSE AND BOOKBINDERY.
1875-
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1875, by the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS REUNION ASSOCIATION,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
-,
'
Preface.
This work is published by the Ninety-Second Illinois Reunion
^ Association, under the supervision of a Committee, appointed at
the third Reunion, at Mt. Carroll, September 4, 1873. Neither
- member of the Committee had any qualification for the proper
fO performance of the task imposed upon them ; neither had a
Jp scratch of a pen to aid in the compilation of the work ; neither
_ had time at his disposal to devote to it. The material facts have
i been gathered from the diaries and old letters of the members of
^i the Regiment, and have been hastily thrown together in chrono-
^ logical order. That it is but a broken fragment of an imperfect
- sketch of the services of the Regiment, the Committee well
5 know, and full of imperfections, they fear; but they submit it to
* the generous consideration of their comrades, hoping that it may
j> serve to revive, in the memory of each one who was a soldier in
the Ninety-Second, some pleasant remembrance.
THE COMMITTEE.
Freeport, Illinois, January 15, i$75-
Contents.
CHAPTER I.
What was It All About The Slavery Question The Missouri Compromise
of 18-20 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 The Kansas-Nebraska Bill
The Election of President Buchanan, in 1856 The Debate between
Douglas and Lincoln, in Illinois, in 1 858 The Election of President
Lincoln, in istio The Deliberate Secession Preparations by the South
President Lincoln's Inaugural Address The Progress of the Contest
until July 1, 1862 The Call for Three Hundred Thousand Additional
Volunteers How It Happened that the Ninety-Second Went to the
War 9
CHAPTER II.
Kecruiting Regimental Organization The First Dress Parade Camp
Life at Rockford Regimental Drill in Presence of the Ladies The
First March The First Man Wounded Camp at Covington, Ky.
Orders to March Company A Buys Mutton for the Hospital Camping
in a Snow-Storm Lexington Mt. Sterling The Difficulties on the
Negro Question Kentucky Methodists Marching Away from Mt.
Sterling Winchester Suits Against the Colonel for Stealing Negroes
Lexington Nicholasville Marching After John Morgan A Slave
Auction Taking the Oath of Allegiance Off for Louisville Embarking
on Steamers' Good-Bye, Loyal Kentucky." 25
CHAPTER III.
Down the Ohio Up the Cumberland Fort Donelsou Nashville Reso-
lutions March to Franklin Offering Battle to Van Dorn Brentwood
Back to Franklin The New Chaplain March to Triune Forrest's
Attack on Triune Shelbyville The Colonel's Application to be De-
tached from the Reserve Corps Wartrace The Regiment Mounted,
and Assigned to Wilder's Brigade of Mounted Infantry Camping at
Decherd 67
CHAPTER IV.
The Campaign Against Chattanooga Over the Cumberland Mountains-
Artillery Practice at Harrison's Landing -First Scout on Lookout
Mountain Leading the Army of the Cumberland into Chattanooga
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 7
Catawba Wine Fighting Forrest at Ringgold, Georgia Rebel Spies
Pretending to be Deserters Gordon's Mill Marching Down Lookout
Mountain in the Storm and Darkness Scouting Along the Chattanooga
Before the Battle The Battle of Chicamauga How McCook's Corps
Was Surprised and Routed Back to Harrison's Landing A Dying
Woman Back Again Over the Cumberland Mountains Caperton's
Ferry Off for Huntsville Judge Hammond's Plantation The Cold
New Year's Night, 1864 Pulaski, Tenn. Back to Huntsville Skirmish
at Bainbridge Ferry Fight at Sweetwater Triauna Scouting Along
the Tennessee Detached from "Wilder's Brigade 9
CHAPTER V.
From Huntsville to Ringgold Beautiful Camp at Ringgold The Massacre
at Nickojack Reconnoissances Under Kilpatrick Nickojack Avenged
Lieutenant Colonel Sheets and Major Bonn Complimented in Reso-
lutionsGeneral Movement of Sherman's Army Against Jo Johnston
Kilpatrick Wounded Reseca Guarding the Railroad Kilpatrick Re-
turnsOutpost Duty on the Chattahoochee Dave Boyle's Capture and
Escape Band Horses Gobbled Laying Pontoons at Sandtown Cut-
ting Railroad at West Point Raiding Around the Rebel Army at
Atlanta Night Fighting at Jonesboro Kilpatrick, Surrounded, Cuts
His Way Out Swimming the Cotton River Saving the Bridge Across
Flint River Brilliant Diversion on the Right of the Army of the
Tennessee Glass's Bridge Fall of Atlanta The Summer's Campaign
Ended /^^?
CHAPTER VI.
No Rest Off Again After Hood Powder Springs Drawing the Enemy's
Fire Picking Out a Farm Van Wert Washing for Gold in the Gold
Mines Marietta Getting Ready for the Great March The Start Bear
Creek Pontoons Described Feinting on Forsyth and Macon Crews's
Rebel Brigade Scattered Repulsing the Enemy Near Macon Sher-
man's Bummers Milledgeville " Blowed Up" Holding the Rear
Against Wheeler and Hampton Repulsing the Rebel Cavalry Near
Buckhead Creek Resting at Louisville, Georgia Destroying Railroads
-The Battle of Waynesboro Capturing a Rebel Major A Negro
Boy's Grave Covering the Rear of the 14th A. C. Our Friends Cruelly
Left Behind Covering the Rear of the 17th A. C. Fall of Fort McAl-
listerMidway Church Down to the Ocean's Edge Lockridge's
Capture and Escape Fall of Savannah Sherman's Letter to
Kilpatrick. /<?.5.
CHAPTER VII.
Camping and Foraging About Savannah Starting on the March Again
. Torchlight Battle Into South Carolina Barn well The Rebel Trap
at Aiken The Ninety-Second, Completely Surrounded by the Enemy,
Gallantly Cuts Its Way Out Exchanging Prisoners with Wheeler-
Sending Up Sky-RocketsRunning Into the Rebel Camps at Night
Averysboro Bentonsville News of Lee's Surrender Fighting Near
8 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Raleigh Entering Raleigh Chapel Hill Marching Along, Gray-Coat
and Blue-Coat, Together Concord Mustered Out Homeward-Bound
The Three.Years' Soldiering Ended 307
CHAPTER VIII.
Roster of Field and Staff Roster of Each Company of the Regiment- -Ros-
ter of Unassigned Recruits 254.
+ CHAPTER IX.
Statement of Charles W. Reynolds, who was Taken Prisoner at Nickoj;
Statement of Nathan C. Tyler Statement of Don B. Frazer Carry
ing a Dispatch Chat with a Southern Lady Foraging in South Caro-
linaVenison Steak, and How the Boys Got It Captain Smith's New
Boots Serenading a Deaf and Dumb Asylum 3O6
CHAPTER X.
The Reunion at Polo, September 4th, 1867 General Atkins's Address A
Reunion Association Organized The Reunion at Freeport, Septeml
4th, 1870 General Sheets's Address The Reunion at Mt. Carroll, Sep
tember 4th, 1873 Major Woodcock's Address 3S&
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER I.
WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT. THE SLAVERY QUESTION. THE
MISSOURI COMPROMISE OF 1820. THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW
OF 1850. THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL. THE ELECTION OF
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN IN 1856. THE DRED SCOTT CASE.
THE DEBATE BETWEEN DOUGLAS AND LINCOLN IN ILLI-
NOIS IN 1858. THE ELECTION OK PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN
1860. THE DELIBERATE SECESSION PREPARATIONS BY THE
SOUTH. PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. THE
PROGRESS OF THE CONTEST UNTIL JULY i, 1862. THE CALL
FOR THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS.
HOW IT HAPPENED THAT THE NlNETY-SKCOND WENT TO
THE WAR.
What was it all about? How did it happen that the Ninety-
Second Regiment went to the war? These are questions for a
reply to which the old members of the Ninety-Second will have-
no need to look into a book; they will find the ready answers
engraven upon the tablets of their memories in characters that
can never fade. But their children will be asking these questions,
nd we may ;is well answer them now. What was it all about?
ut that question reaches so far back into the past that we cannot
'. the whole story. It was about the rights of man, and they
n when Adam was created. If you throw a stone into a
a little circular wave will be caused upon the surface of the'
:er, and the circle will grow larger, and inside of it will come
ther circle, and yet another, and another ; and by and by one
e of the circles will break upon the shore at your feet, and the
Jier side of the circles will cross the pond and break upon the
farther shore. And so it is with the great events in history, only
there are no shores for the circles of influence to break upon;
they go back, by relation, many hundreds of years in the past,
2 (9)
io NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and no man can tell how far the widening circles of influence of
the great deeds of any age may reach into the coming centuries.
We said it was about the rights of man. We will be more specific.
It was about the rights of the black man ; for, we think it safe to
say now, whatever was said at the time, that African slavery was
the real cause of the war. That is what it was all about. When
the American Colonies were settled African slaves were intro-
duced into the Colonies; the first were landed at Jamestown, in
Virginia, by a Dutch trading vessel, in the year A. D. 1620.
They were afterwards introduced into other Colonies, and before
the American Revolution African slavery existed in most of the
North American Colonies. During the Revolution the American
slaves aided the American patriots in many ways. Many people
believed that the Declaration of American Independence, upon
which the American Revolution was fought, when it said "all
men are created equal," meant ALL men, black as well as white ;
but many also believed that it did not apply to slaves, or Indians,
or to any but white men. And when the American Revolution
was ended, and liberty had been gained, it was construed not to
mean liberty to black men, but to white men only. The Southern
Colonies did not wish to give up slavery, yet there appeared at
that titnejx) be a general sentiment among the people at the
North and South that slavery was wrong, and detrimental to the
best interests of the newly developing communities; and when
Virginia, in the year 1787, ceded to the General Government her
title to the Territory out of which the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan have since been formed, on
July 13, 1787, in the last Congress that convened under the
Articles of Confederation, the Northwest Ordinance was passed for
the government of all the Territory at that time owned by the
infant Republic. And by Article VI of that Ordinance it was
provided : "That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in the said Territory otherwise than in the punishment
of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted."
That was the way our revolutionary fathers provided for the
government of the Territory belonging to the Union in the first
legislative act they passed upon the subject.
But the invention of the Cotton Gin, a machine to separatt
the cotton seed fiom the cotton fibre, invented bv Eli Whitnr
in 1792, and afterwards brought into general use, made the cu
vation of cotton in the South, bv slave labor, profitable : and a
the cultivation of rice and sugar cane, by slave labor, beconr
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. it
profitable at the South, there was built up thereby in the
Southern Colonies a sentiment strongly favoring slavery. There
were no such reasons for continuing slavery in the Northern
Colonies, and it was abolished in New York and Pennsylvania,
and the Colony of Massachusetts Bay refused to permit slavery
when its State government was established. And in a few years
after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1789, there were
but few slaves in the Northern States, and very few colored
people. When the Federal Constitution was adopted, slavery
was indirectly recognized in that fundamental law of the new
Nation, by its providing, in Section IX of Article I, that "the
migration or importation of such persons as any of the States
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited
by Congress, prior to the year 1808." This was well known to
refer to the African slave trade, and it was a concession to the
extreme Southern States. It did not apply to the Territories out
of which new States might be carved, and afterwards admitted
into the Union, but only to the States at that time existing. But
in the early days of the Republic the best and most enlightened
sentiment of the nation, North and South, tended toward the
broadest liberty, and the American Congress, soon after the
constitutional prohibition expired, prohibited the African slave
trade, by declaring it piracy upon the high seas. For many years
afterward, in the South, slavery continued to grow more and more
profitable; in the North it died out entirely, and a strong senti-
ment inimical to slavery rapidly grew up. In 1820, when
Missouri was erected into a State, with slavery, it created great
excitement and profound discussion in Congress and throughout
the Nation ; but slavery already existed in Missouri by a clause
in the treaty ceding the Louisiana Territory, out of which the
State of Missouri was formed, to the United States, and at the
instance of Jesse B. Thomas, United States Senator from Illinois,
slavery was allowed in that State, but prohibited in all the Western
Territorial possessions of the United States in the future, North of
36 30', that being the Southern line of the State of Missouri.
That is known in history as the Clay Compromise, or Missouri
Compromise of 1820. Some statesmen thought that it was the
final settlement of all difficulty on the slavery question; but
compromises seldom settle anything, and the Missouri Compromise
of 1820 did not settle the slavery question; it only postponed the
day of settlement. The people of the South did not any the less
desire to extend the area of slavery : the people of the North did
12 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
not look with any less aversion upon the institution of slavery
itself. The South saw the North prosperous, rapidly advancing
in wealth and population, and new States preparing for admission
into the Union, in which slavery would not be permitted. And
the South saw its own section languishing in -enterprise, and no
new States continually coming into the Union at the South, to
enable that section to hold the same relative political power in the
Union ; and political power was passing rapidlv into the possession
of the more populous, more enterprising free States of the North.
Slaves escaping from the plantations in the South were aided by
Northern citizens, fed and clothed, and secretlv and illegally
forwarded on their journey to freedom, in Canada. Free men of
color from the North were reduced to slavery in some portions of
the South. Freedom of speech was denied in a great portion of
the South, and any one who there asserted that slavery was
wrong was at the mercv of the mob, and always of a mob that
had no mercy. Slaveholding was denounced in the North in a
portion of the public press, and from the pulpit and the stump.
In 1850 there was great excitement again in Congress; the ghost
of slavery, although compromised out of sight in 1820, would
not stay down. The South demanded, with bitterness and threats
of war and disunion, additional safe-guards against the escape of
their slaves; and the North, or many people at the North, did
not like to become slave-hunters for Southern slave masters.
But the South, being united, succeeded in dividing the North, and
carrying with its section a portion of the Democratic party of the
North, passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, so harsh in its
terms as to meet the bitter denunciation of many of the wisest
and best men at the North Many men refused to obey the law,
and were sustained in such refusal by the Supreme Courts of
manv of the Northern States. In 1854 Kansas and Nebraska
were organized into Territories, and the bill for that purpose,
introduced into the Senate by Stephen A. Douglas, Senator from
Illinois, in express terms trampled down the compromise adopted
at the instance of Jesse B. Thomas, Senator from Illinois, in 1820.
The excitement was intense, and the slavery question was almost
the only question publicly discussed in the press and on the
stump, both at the North and South. The South was united and
the North divided. Most of the Democratic party at the North,
following the lead of Senator Douglas, joined with the united
South, and the Kansas-Nebraska bill was passed, on July 13, 1854,
providing that Kansas and Nebraska, notwithstanding the Com-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 13
promise of 1820, dedicating that Territory to freedom, might come
into the Union as States, "with or without slavery," as the people
might determine at the time of their admission into the Union.
Then came a race as to who should settle up those Territories,
Southern people favoring slavery, or Northern people favoring
freedom. The Southern planter went with his slaves, his prejudice
against education, his pistol and his bowieknife. The Northern
people sent out colonies of settlers with bibles and Sharpe's rifles,
and the Northern settlers in Kansas built school houses and
churches, and roads, and mills; read their bibles as their Pilgrim
Fathers had done before them, and defended their settlements
with their rifles. They were raided upon and marty times
temporarily overpowered by the bands of slaveholders from
Missouri and Arkansas, but the Northern settlers in Kansas went
to stay, and they did stay. In the long run intelligence and free
labor always triumph over prejudice and slavery. They triumphed
in Kansas and Nebraska.
But, while the contest was being fought out in Kansas and
Nebraska Yankee intelligence and freedom against Southern
prejudice and slavery many other interesting phases of the con-
test were developing. One of the most interesting, and one that
ultimately assumed the most prominent part in the solution of
the slavery question in the United States, was a law case that
arose in the State of Missouri ; an action of trespass vi ft armis,
by Dred Scott, a negro, against one Sanford, who claimed to be
his master, to try the question of Dred Scott's freedom, and the
freedom of his wife and children ; which case found its way into
the Supreme Court of the United States. The facts in the case
were as follows: Dred Scolt, the negro, was taken by his master,
voluntarily on the part of his master, in the year 1834, to Rock
Island, in the free State of Illinois, and for two years held in
Rock Island as a slave, forty-seven years after the adoption of
the North- West Ordinance of 1787, which threw its protecting
shield of freedom over all the Territory from which the State of
Illinois was formed, and sixteen years after the Free State Con-
stitution of Illinois was adopted. The negro was then taken by his
master to the military post of Ft. Snelling, in Minnesota, and
there held as a slave two years longer. During the time he was
held as a slave in Minnesota, Dred Scott was married, and had
two children born unto him. The case was argued in the Su-
preme Court of the United States, at December Term, A. D.
1855; but it was not decided at that term. The Presidential cam-
I 4 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
palgn of 1856 was approaching. The Democrats nominated
James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for President; the Republi-
cans nominated John Charles Fremont, who was the first
Republican candidate for the Presidency. The canvass was
exceedingly earnest, and the points upon which it turned were
the extension of slavery and the breaking down of the Missouri
Compromise of 1820. The supporters of Fremont were called
" black Republicans," and " negro worshippers," and great preju-
dice seemed to exist against them. They were not successful in
that Presidential campaign, and James Buchanan, the Democratic
candidate, was elected President of the United States. The
Senate a*hd Lower House of Congress were overwhelmingly
Democratic. The South had apparently triumphed ; they controlled
two of the three important branches of the Government under
the Constitution of the United States the Executive and the
Legislative and they were sure of the other branch the Judicial.
Surely, if now, having the Executive and Legislative branches
of the Government with them, they could " clinch" the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise with a decision of the Supreme Court
of the United States, then abolition hate, and Yankee ingenuity
and pluck, could not prevail against them. The decision came
immediately after the election. The Dred Scott case was
decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, at the De-
cember Term, 1856. In that case, it was decided to be the law of
the land, so far as the Supreme Court of the United States could
decide it to be law: First, that negroes had no rights' which
white men were bound to respect, and consequently that no
person who had African blood in his veins could be a citizen of
the United States, even to the extent of being able to sue in its
courts for his liberty or the liberty of his child. Second, that the
right of property in human beings was distinctly affirmed in the
Constitution of the United States. Third, that slavery could not
be prohibited in the Territories by any authority whatever, or any-
where else where the Constitution of the United States was the
paramount law. Fourth, that Dred Scott was lawfully held as a
slave, both at Rock Island, in the free State of Illinois, and at Ft.
Snelling, in Minnesota, and that it would have made no differ-
ence had he been taken there with the intention of a permanent
residence.
It was supposed by many that this decision, by the most
august judicial tribunal in the world, would settle the slavery
question forever. The fact was that it unsettled it more than the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 15
passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850, or the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise in 1854. The court went too far. It was
easy to be seen that, if that decision was to be followed out to its
logical extent, there was no such thing as freedom anywhere in
the United States for the black man; not in the Territories, nor
yet in the States, for the Constitution of the United States was
recognized as the paramount law in all the States and Territories.
The Northern people, the anti-slavery people of the United States,
denied the binding authority of that decision. They pronounced
it monstrous, but they never dreamed of going into a rebellion
over it. In the press, and in the pulpit, and on the stump, it was
'denounced. Greater political excitement prevailed than was ever
known before. More colonies of settlers, and more bibles, and
more rifles were sent by Massachusetts to Kansas. In 1858, in
Illinois, the most remarkable political debate that had ever
occurred in the history of the United States took place. Senator
Stephen A. Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill,
which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and Abraham
Lincoln, Esq., of Springfield, Illinois, met in joint public debate,
and the turning points of the whole series of debates were the
questions of the extension of slavery, the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise, and the decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States in the Dred Scott case. Senator Douglas, as the
champion of the Democratic party, affirmed the wisdom of the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the binding force of the
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred
Scott case; and Mr. Lincoln, as the champion of the Republican
party, deplored both, and contended for a return to the tendencies
in favor of freedom, which prevailed in the infancy of the
Republic. It was the contest of intellectual giants. But Illinois
went Democratic, and Senator Douglas and the Democratic party
had the immediate victory. So confident was the South, in
complete victory, with every department of the Government
sustaining slavery, that the African slave trade was actually
revived, and a ship load of African slaves imported into Georgia,
by G. B. Lamar, of Savannah.
In 1860 came on another Presidential campaign. Four candi-
dates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States
were presented for the suffrages of the people. The contest was
one of the most exciting that had ever occurred. The Demo-
cratic party was divided; one wing of that party supported
Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, for President, and Herschel V.
16 NINETr-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice-President; the other wing of the
Democratic party supported John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky,
for President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice-President.
The old-line Whigs supported John Bell, of Tennessee, for Presi-
dent, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice-President.
The Republican party supported Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois,
for President, and Hanibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice-President.
Under the Constitution of the United States the vote is not
direct for President and Vice-President; but in each State the
voters vote for "Presidential Electors," as many as the State has
Senators and Representatives in Congress. After the election,
these Presidential Electors form an Electoral College, and a
majority of votes in the Electoral College elects the President
and Vice-President. The result of the Presidential election in
1860 was that, in the Electoral College, Lincoln and Hamlin had
one hundred and eighty electoral votes; Douglas and Johnson
had twelve electoral votes; Breckenridge and Lane had seventy-
two electoral votes; Bell and Everett had thirty-nine electoral
votes; that is, Lincoln and Hamlin had a majority of fiftv-seven
electoral votes, in the Electoral College, over all opposing candi-
dates. Curious students of history may wish to -examine the
popular vote, which was as follows: Lincoln and Hamlin
received 1,857,610; Douglas and Johnson, 1,365,976; Breckenridge
and Lane, 847,553; Bell and Everett, 590,631. The election of
Lincoln and Hamlin was the first great victory of the Republican
party, and the anti-slavery sentiment of the Nation. And never
was there a fairer election -held, except that the supporters of
Lincoln and Hamlin were mobbed in many, if not all, of the
Slave States. Had the Democrats not quarrelled, and voted
solidly, they must have, succeeded. It seemed that the Southern
Democrats deliberately resolved to quarrel, divide the Democratic
vote, and thereby help to elect Lincoln and Hamlin, and for no
other reason than that they might organize the Rebellion; and in
support of this view it may be mentioned that, at Charleston,
South Carolina, the hot-bed of secession, on November 7th, 1860,
the very day following the election of Lincoln and Hamlin, the
news of their election was received with cheers bv the Secession-
ists of that rebel city, and with shouts for a "Southern Con-
federacy;" and on the ninth of November, 1860, onlv two davs
after the election of Lincoln and Hamlin, the citizens of Charles-
ton, South Carolina, attempted to seixe the United States arms in
Fort Moultrie, one of the United States forts in Charleston Harbor.
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 17
Indeed, it became plain that the original Secessionists at the
South had deliberately planned treason, and deliberately de-
termined to put into execution their ot't-repeated threats of
disunion. Warlike preparations quickly followed each other in
the South. On the tenth of November, 1860, a bill was intro-
duced in the South Carolina Legislature, to raise and equip ten
thousand men; and the Legislature of that State ordered the
election of a Convention, to consider the question of Secession,
and James Chestnut, one of the United States Senators from
South Carolina, resigned ; which was followed on the eleventh
bv the resignation of United States Senator Hammond, of that
State., On the fifteenth of November, Governor Letcher, of Vir-
ginia, called an extra session of the Virginia Legislature. On
the eighteenth of November, the 'Legislature of Georgia appro-
priated one million dollars to arm that State. On the nineteenth,
Governor Moore, of Louisiana, called an extra session of the
Legislature. On the first of December, a great Secession meet-
ing was held at Memphis, in the State of Tennessee ; and on the
same day, the Legislature of Florida ordered the election of a
Secession Convention. On the third day of December, the
United States Congress assembled; and President James
Buchanan, a Northern dough-faced Democrat, who sympathized
with treason, denied, in his message to Congress, the right of
the United States to coerce a seceding State. On the fifth of
December, the delegates to the Secession Convention in South
Carolina were elected. On the tenth, Howell Cobb, Secretary of
the Treasury of the United States, resigned, and went home to
Georgia, to engage in Secession; and on the same day, the Leg-
islature of Louisiana assembled, and appropriated five hundred
thousand dollars to arm that State, and called a Secession Con-
vention. On the thirteenth of December, a special meeting of
President Buchanan's Cabinet was held, to consider the question
of reinforcing Fort Moultrie; and President Buchanan opposed
it, and no reinforcements were sent. On the seventeenth, the
Secession Convention of South Carolina assembled, and on the
twentieth, passed the Ordinance of Secession by a unanimous
vote; and President Buchanan sent a message to the South
Carolina Secession Convention, pledging 'hat Fort Moultrie
should not be reinforced. On the twenty-sixth, Major Anderson.
with one hundred and eleven men, evacuated Fort Moultrie, and
took possession of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor. On the
twenty-seventh, the Revenue Cutter, William Aiken, was treach-
i8 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
erously surrendered to the South Carolina authorities by Captain
M. S. Coste; and on the twenty-eighth, South Carolina seized
the United States property in the city of Charleston, and took
possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie; and on the
thirty-first of December, South Carolina sent Commissioners to
other Slave States, to stir up Secession. So the year 1860 went
out. And the North stood still and quiet; amazed, but not
frightened.
And the new year, 1861, came in with the same methodical
preparations for war, on the part of the South. On the second
day of January, Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, seized Fort
Macon; and on the same day, the Secession militia of Georgia
seized Fort Pulaski, and Fort Jackson, and the United States
Arsenal at Savannah, Georgia. On the fourth of January,
Governor Moore, of Alabama, seized Fort Morgan and the
United States Arsenal at Mobile And the people of the North
observed that day as a day of fasting and prayer. On the sev-
enth, the Secession Conventions of Alabama and Mississippi
convened, and the Legislatures of Virginia and Tennessee
assembled. On the eighth, Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the
Interior, resigned and joined the Rebellion ; and on the same
day, the Secessionists of North Carolina seized Fort Johnson, at
Wilmington, and Fort Caswell, at Oak Island. On the ninth of
January, the steamer, Star of the West, bearing'provisions to the
United States garrison in Fort Sumter, was fired upon by the
Rebel batteries in Charleston Harbor, and the steamer turnec'
back ; and on the same day, Mississippi passed the Secession
Ordinance. On the tenth, the Florida militia seized Fort
McRea, and Florida passed an Ordinance of Secession. On the
eleventh, Alabama seceded ; and on the same day, the Governor
of Louisiana seized Fort St. Phillip and Fort Jackson, on the
Mississippi below New Orleans, and Fort Pike and Fort Macornb,
on Lake Ponchartrain, and the United States Arsenal at Baton
Rouge. On the thirteenth, the Secessionists of Florida took
possession of the Pensacola Navy Yard and Fort Barnacas. On
the sixteenth, Arkansas and Missouri called Secession Conven-
tions. On the eighteenth, Virginia voted one million dollars for
the Rebellion. On the nineteenth, Georgia adopted a Secession
Ordinance. On the twenty-first, Jefferson Davis, Senator from
Mississippi, resigned his seat in the United States Senate, and
joined the Conspirators; and all the Members of Congress from
Al-abama resigned and went home to engage in Secession, followed
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 19
on the next day by all the Members of Congress from Georgia ; and
on the following day, the Georgia militia seized the United States
Arsenal at Augusta. On the twenty-sixth, Louisiana passed a
Secession Ordinance. On the thirtieth, the United States
Revenue Cutters, Cass at Mobile, and McLelland at New
Orleans, were traitorously surrendered to the Rebel insurgents by
their contemptible Commanders. This is the record of Secession
preparation in the month of January, 1861, and it is by no means
complete; we have aimed only to give the most prominent
events. The month of February was as fruitful of Secession.
On the first of February, the State of Texas seceded, and the
Louisiana ^Secessionists seized the United States Mint and
Custom House at New Orleans. On the fourth, the delegates
from the Southern States met at Montgomery, Alabama, to
organize the "Confederate States of America." On the eighth,
the United States Arsenal at Little Rock, Arkansas, was seized.
On the ninth, Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and Alexander H.
Stephens, of Georgia, were declared the Provisional President
and Vice-President of the so-called Southern Confederacy. And
on the twenty-third, General Twiggs, a traitorous West Point
bantling of the Republic, surrendered and turned traitor in
Texas, taking with' him over one million two hundred thousand
dollars' worth of property of the United States.
And now we turn to the North. What was the North doing
all this time, in the face of all this warlike preparation and con-
certed treason, on the part of the South? The truthful answer is,
nothing, absolutely nothing. President James Buchanan did
nothing; and the Northern people waited for the inauguration of
Abraham Lincoln, as President of the United States. The
Northern people were exceedingly quiet; but they were very
solemnly in earnest, in their determination to maintain the integ-
rity of the United States Government. When Abraham Lincoln
left his home in Springfield, Illinois, to go to Washington, to be
inaugurated as President, on taking leave of his fellow citizens at
the depot, he said : " My friends, no one not in my position can
appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. I know not how
soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me which is,
perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man
since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded
except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all
times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same
Divine aid which sustained him. In the same Almighty Being
20 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
I place my reliance for support; and I hope that my friends will
.ill pray that i may receive that Divine assistance, without which
I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid
vou all an affectionate farewell." On his journev to Washington,
the Secessionists attempted his assassination. At one time an
attempt was made to throw the railroad train off from the track.
At Cincinnati a hand-grenade was found concealed on the train.
A gang in Baltimore had arranged, upon his arrival, to " get up
a row," and, in the confusion, to make sure of his death with
revolvers and hand-grenades. The plot was discovered by a
detective; and a secret, special train was provided to take him
from Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected hour of
the night. The train started at half-past ten from Harrisburg;
and as soon as the train had started, the telegraph wire was cut.
His safe arrival in Washington, the next morning, was tele-
graphed over the North. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as
President of the Unied States, on the steps of the Capitol, March
fourth, 1861, General Winfield Scott having charge of the military
escort. General Scott, in his autobiography, says: "The
inauguration of President Lincoln was, perhaps, the most critical
and hazardous with which I have ever been connected. In the
preceding two months I had received more than fifty letters,
many from points distant from each other; some earnestly dis-
suading me from being present at the event, and others distinctly
threatening assassination, if I dared to protect the ceremony by
military force." Without General Scott's military force, it is
confidently believed that the diabolism of treason would have
accomplished the death of Abraham Lincoln before his inaugu-
ration as President. In his Inaugural Address, he spoke calmly
and kindly to the South. We quote only a few sentences:
"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the
Southern States, that, by the accession of a Republican Adminis-
tration, their property and their peace and personal security are
to be endangered. There never has been any reasonable cause
for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the
contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspec-
tion. It is found in nearly all of the published speeches of him
who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those
speeches, when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or
indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists.
"A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced,
is pow formidably attempted. I hold that, in the contemplation
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 21
of universal law and of the Constitution, the union of these
States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in
the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to
assert, that no government proper ever had a provision in its
organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the
express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union
will endure forever; it being impossible to destroy it, except by
some action not provided for in the instrument itself.
" I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and
the laws, the Union is unbroken; and, to the extent of my ability,
I shall take care, as the Constitution expressly enjoins upon me,
that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully executed in all the
States. Doing this, which I deem to be only a simple duty on
my part, I shall perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless
my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the
requisiton, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.
" I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the
declared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally defend
and maintain itself.
" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not
in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government
will not assail you.
" You can have no conflict without being yourseves the
aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy
the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to
preserve, protect, and defend it.
" I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it
must not break, our bonds of affection.
" The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-
field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our
nature."
These words of President Lincoln, so calmly and kindly
spoken, had no effect upon the people of the South; they had
deliberately entered into Secession, and they steadily pursued
their chosen course. They continued to seize the Forts, and
Mints, and Custom Houses of the United States, and to organize,
equip, and drill their soldiery. On the eleventh of April, Federal
troops were stationed in Washinton city ; and on the twelfth, the
Rebels commenced the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and that
22 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Fort was surrendered to them, by Major Anderson, on the day
following. On the fourteenth, Governor Yates called a special
session of the Illinois Legislature. On the fifteenth of April, the
President issued a proclamation commanding all persons in arms
against the Government to disperse within twenty days^ and
called an extra session of Congress, to meet July fourth, and
called for seventy-five thousand Volunteers for three months.
The Governors of Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri,
refused to furnish troops under the President's proclamation,
claiming that their States would remain " neutral" in the con-
test ; but the call was more than filled within twenty-four hours.
On the nineteenth of April, the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment
was attacked by a mob while passing through Baltimore to Wash-
ington. On the twenty-fourth, Cairo, Illinois, was occupied by
Union troops; and on the twenty-fifth, Illinois Volunteers re-
moved twenty-two thousand stand of arms from the United
States Arsenal in St. Louis, to Springfield, Illinois. On the
twenty-seventh, all the officers of the Regular Army who still
remained in the service, were required to take the Oath of Alle-
giance to the United States. On the third of May, President
Lincoln called for forty thousand three years Volunteers, and
twenty-two thousand troops for the Regular Army, and eighteen
thousand seamen. The call was quickly filled. On May twenty-
fourth, thirteen thousand Union troops crossed the Potomac, and
occupied Arlington Heights. On the first of June, there was a
cavalry skirmish at Fairfax Court House, Virginia. On the
third, Colonel Kelly defeated the Rebels in a skirmish at Phil-
lippi, Virginia, killing fifteen. On the tenth, was fought the
battle of Big Bethel ; and on the eleventh, a skirmish at Romney ;
and on the same day, a skirmish occurred at Cole Camp, Mo.
On the seventh of July, General Patterson defeated the Con-
federates at Falling Water, Virginia. On the fifth, Siegel was
defeated at Carthage, Missouri. On the twelfth, Colonel W. S.
Rosecrans defeated the Confederates at Rich Mountain, Virginia,
the enemy losing one hundred and fifteen killed and wounded,
eight hundred prisoners, and their wagons, guns, and camp
equipage. On the twenty-first of July, occurred the battle of
Bull Run. The Union forces, forty-five thousand strong, under
the command of General McDowell, were defeated, losing four
hundred and eighty-one killed, one hundred and four wounded,
and one thousand two hundred and sixteen missing. General
Beauregard reported the Confederate loss at two hundred and
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 23
sixty-nine killed, and one thousand four hundred and eighty-
three wounded. The Union troops disgracefully retreated upon
Washington, and the Confederates disgracefully retreated toward
Richmond. On the tenth of August, General Lyon, with five
thousand troops, attacked General McCulloch, at Wilson's Creek,
Missouri. General Lyon was killed, and Colonel Siegel and
Major Sturgis retreated to Springfield, but McCulloch did not
follow. The Rebel loss, as reported by McCulloch, was two hun-
dred and sixty-five killed, and eight hundred wounded ; Federal
loss two hundred and three killed, and one thousand and twelve
wounded and missing. On the tenth of September, occurred the
battle of Carnifix Ferry, the Federals being successful under
Brigadier General Rosecrans. On the twenty-first of October,
was fought the battle of Ball's Bluff, in which General Baker, of
the Union Army, and United States Senator from Oregon, was
killed. The Union troops were defeated, with a loss of two hun-
dred and twenty-three killed, three hundred and sixty-six wounded,
and three hundred and fifty-five prisoners. On November seventh,
General prant, with two thousand eight hundred troops, attacked
Belmont, Missouri, and drove the enemy from his camp; who,
being reinforced, renewed the battle, and General Grant retreated.
Union loss, eighty-four killed, two hundred and eighty-eight
wounded, and thirty-five missing. On January nineteenth, 1862,
was fought the battle of Mill Spring, Kentucky, in which the
Rebels were defeated, and the Rebel General Zollicoffer killed.
On February eighth, General Burnside captured from the Rebels
the six forts on Roanoke Island, with three thousand small arms,
and two thousand five hundred Rebel prisoners. On the six-
teenth, Fort Donelson surrendered to General Grant, with fifteen
thousand prisoners, forty cannon, and twenty thousand stand of
small arms. The Union loss was three hundred and twenty-one
killed, one thousand and forty-six wounded, and one hundred and
fifty missing. On March eighth, General Curtis was attacked by
Van Dorn, Price, and McCulloch, at Pea Ridge, Missouri.
General Curtis defeated the Rebels. The Union loss was two
hundred and twelve killed, and nine hundred and twenty-six
wounded. On April sixth, the Rebels, under General Albert
Sidney Johnson and General Beuregard, attacked General Grant
at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and were defeated on the next
day by General Grant. Genaral Johnson was killed. The Union
loss was one thousand six hundred and fourteen killed, seven
thousand seven hundred and twenty-one wounded, and three
24 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
thousand nine hundred and fifty-six missing, and the RebeJ loss
full y as great. On the eighth 'of April, Island No. 10, in the
Mississippi below Cairo, was captured by General John Pope,
with five thousand Rebel prisoners, one hundred siege guns,
twenty-four pieces of field artillery, five thousand stand of small
arms, two thousand hogsheads of sugar, and large quantities of
ammunition. On the twenty-fifth of April, Commodore Farragut
captured New Orleans. On June first, the Rebels were defeated
at Fair Oaks, and withdrew. The Union loss was eight hundred
and ninety killed, and four thousand eight hundred and forty-four
wounded. On June thirtieth, 1862, General McClellan retreated
from Richmond, after several days' very severe fighting and
terrible loss. On July first, was fought the battle of Mal.vern
Hill, the last of the Richmond battles. In the six days' fighting
before Richmond, the Union loss was one thousand five hundred
and sixty-one killed, seven thousand seven hundred and one
wounded, and five thousand nine hundred and fiftv-eight missing.
On this day, July i, 1862, President Lincoln called for three hun-
dred thousand additional Volunteers; and it was under this call
that the Ninety-Second enlisted. We have only faintly touched
upon the terrible struggle which had been going on with treason
since President Lincoln's inauguration. Immense armies were
in the field; and while the Union forces were many times success-
ful, their ranks were sadly thinned by battles and disease. Some
one must take up the muskets our dead and wounded soldiers
could no longer handle, and continue the battle for the Union and
Liberty so heroically commenced; and the Ninety-Second Illinois
Volunteers was a part of the grand Army of three hundred thou-
sand that marched to the war under the President's call of July
i, 1862. And this is the way we have told the storv of what it
was all about, and how it happened that the Ninety-Second went
to the War.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 25
CHAPTER II.
RECRUITING REGIMENTAL ORGANIZATION THE FIRST DRESS
PARADE CAMI' LIFE AT ROCKKORD REGIMENTAL DRILL
IN PRESENCE OK THE LADIES THE FIRST MARCH THE
FIRST MAN WOUNDED CAMP AT COVINGTON, KY. ORDERS
TO MARCH COMPANY A BUYS MUTTON FOR THE HOSPITAL
CAMPING IN A SNOW-STORM LEXINGTON MT. STERLING
THE DIFFICULTIES ON THE NEGRO QUESTION KEN-
TUCKY METHODISTS MARCHING AWAY FROM MT. STER-
LING WINCHESTER SUITS AGAINST THE COLONEL FOP
STEALING NEGROES LEXINGTON NICHOLASVILLE MARCH
ING AFTER JOHN MORGAN A SLAVE AUCTION TAKING
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE OFF FOR LOUISVILLE EM-
HARKING ON STEAMERS " GOOD BYE, LOYAL KENTUCKY."
That was a gloomy period in the history of the war, when
President Lincoln issued his cail for " three hundred thousand
more," on July first, 1862. McClellan had been hurled back, with
terrible loss, from the very battlements of Richmond. Soldiers
on crutches and soldiers with an " empty sleeve " were becoming
familiar sights in the North. The rough pine boxes at the ex-
press offices were often seen ; they contained the remains of the
"boys in blue" who had fallen on the battle-field, in the camp,
or the hospital, brought home for burial, that loving eyes might
bedew their graves with tears, and loving hands bedeck them
with flowers. The North was commencing to realize how ter-
ribly in earnest the battle was. To many it appeared that the
countrv could not spare any more of its young men. In North-
ern Illinois the golden grain fields were bowing their heavily
laden heads, and inviting the commencement of the harvest,
and the laborers were few. The quota of Illinois was large, and
it required time to get the machinery of recruiting and organiza-
tion into working order. At length, on the fourth of August,
the good President " put his foot down firmly," and directed a
draft of three hundred thousand in addition to the call of the
3
26 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
first of July. Then the people, with an impulse that was grand,
took hold of the work in earnest. In every school house in the
three counties from which the Ninety-Second was recruited,
meetings were held; the fife sent out its shrill notes, and the
drum its roll, and the old flag was displayed ; the harvest hands
gathered to the meetings after their days of toil. Patriotic songs
were sung : " We will rally around the Flag, boys, rally once
again, shouting the battle cry of Freedom," and partriotisin
took up the refrain, and arswered it, "We are coming, Father
Abraham, six hundred thousand more." Gray haired fathers,
who had already sent one or more sons to the battle, attended the
meetings, and saw their remaining sons enlist. Many who went
onlv to hear the speeches and songs, were touched with the pre-
vailing spirit of patriotism, and signed their names to the muster
rolls. Eloquent speakers, many of whom did not say " Go, boys,"
but said, "Come, boys," told the story of the Nation's peril.
Many who had seen the battle's terrible carnage, and were not
dismayed, were ready to go again to the front, and eloquently
plead with the people to " fill the vacant ranks of their brothers
gone before." The sacred fires of Liberty were kindled in these
meetings, and the people lifted up to the high resolve of demon-
strating to the world the strength of Republican government,
that a free people, of their own free will, with courage sublime,
would not halt in the battle for the Nation's existence, but march
forward, filling the battle-broken ranks of the army corps in the
field. It was a greater task than any nation had before accom-
plished; not to beat off the assaults of a foreign foe, but the far
more difficult one of " saving ourselves from ourselves." It was
in these meetings that "party was sunk in patriotism;" and those
who had been fighting political battles* clasped their hands in
friendship, and signed together the agreement to enlist, and
together to march and fight. No one who witnessed the recruit-
ing in the summer of i862, in Northern Illinois, will ever forget
it; the people rallying from their harvest-fields, leaving the
ripened grain ungathered, to fill the ranks of the new regiments.
It was grand, beyond all power of ours to tell. The true story of
the enlistment of the ten companies of the Ninety-Second would
require more space than this whole book. It never will be told
in print. Grandsires will tell to their grandchildren the story of
that great uprising of the people, when the fires of Liberty were
lighted in the hour of the Nation's need; and they in turn will tell
it to their grandchildren; and its effect will not be lost in the Re-
XINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 27
public for generations to come. It was at first thought that one
regiment might be raised in the counties of Stephenson, Ogle,
Carroll, Jo Daviess, Winnebago, Boone, McHenry, and Lake.
But it was found that four regiments and three companies were
ready to muster, when finally put into camp at Rockford.
Major Smith D. Atkins, of the Eleventh Illinois Infantry, by the
direction of Governor Yates, had charge of the enlistment of
companies in Stephenson, jo Daviess, Ogle, and Carroll counties.
By his direction, Captain Stouffer, of one of the Mt. Carroll com-
panies, afterwards of the Ninety-Second, went into camp with
his company at Rockford, on July twenty-second, 1862, and was
joined by the other companies, afterwards organized into the
Regiment within a few days thereafter. Bv the twenty-sixth of
August, forty-three companies were encamped at Rockford.
Barracks were built of pine boards; but it was not till long after-
wards that the soldiers learned to appreciate how comfortably
they were situated. The companies, by ballot, selected their
Captains and Lieutenants; and the officers and men of the com-
panies selected the regimental officers. For days there was little
drilling. The making up of regiments, and who should be Colo-
nel, and who Lieutenant Colonel, and who Major, were the
important questions discussed. The following ten companies
unanimously resolved themselves into a regimental organization :
Captain William J. Ballinger, Lena, Stephenson Countv; Captain
VVilber W. Dennis, Byron, Ogle County ; CaptainWilliam Stouffer,
Mt. Carroll, Carroll County ; Captain Lyman Preston, Polo,
Ogle County ; Captain Matthew Van Buskirk, Polo, Ogle County ;
Captain Christopher T. Dunham, Freeport, Stephenson County ;
Captain John M. Schermerhorn, Lena, Stephenson County;
Captain James Brice, Rochelle, Ogle County; Captain Egbert T.
E. Becker, Mt. Carroll, Carroll County ; Captain Albert Wood-
cock, Oregon, Ogle County. And, with the same remarkable
unanimity, every commissioned officer and soldier in the ten
companies petitioned Governor Yates to be mustered in a regi-
ment together, under Major Smith D. Atkins, of Freeport,
Stephenson County, as Colonel. Their unanimous request was
granted. And with the same unanimity, Benjamin F. Sheets, of
Oregon, Ogle Countv, was chosen Lieutenant Colonel ; and John
H. Bohn, of Mt. Carroll, Carroll County, was chosen Major.
On September fourth, 1862, under the direction of Hon. A. C.
Fuller, Adjutant General of Illinois, the Ninety-Second was
mustered into the United States service " for three years, or
28 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
during the war," by Lieutenant Long, U. S. A. As soon as
mustered, Adjutant General Fuller made a speech to the Regi-
ment, thanking the men for their patriotism, and telling them
how much Illinois expected from them. The unanimity which
had prevailed in the organization of the Regiment was continued.
Isar C. Lawver, of West Point Township, Stephenson County,
who had received a military education at the Military School at
Nashville, Tennessee, and had refused to join the Re-
hellion, when that school hroke up at the commencement
of the war, and who had been drilling the companies at
Rockford, upon the unanimous petition of all the line officers,
was appointed Adjutant of the Regiment. George W. Marshall,
of Mt. Morris, Ogle County, First Sergeant of Company K, was
promoted to Regimental Quarter-master. Clinton Helm, M. D.,
of Byron, Ogle County, was appointed Regimental Surgeon ;
Thomas Winston, M. D., of Mt. Morris, Ogle County, First
Assistant Surgeon ; Dr. Nathan Stephenson, of Fair Haven,
Carroll County, Corporal of Company I, was promoted to Sec-
ond Assistant Army Surgeon of the Regiment; Rev. O. D. W.
White, of Mt. Carroll, Carroll County, was appointed Chaplain ;
Lieutenant Orville T. Andrews, of Rockford, Winnebago County,
who had lost a leg in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, was ap-
pointed Sutler. The line officers met, and drew lots for the letter
of the company in the Regiment, by which the company was to
be afterwards known. Little, square slips of paper, with the
letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, were written and put into a
hat; and each Captain drew out a slip, and the letter on the slip v
became the letter of his company. Captain W. J Ballinger, of
Lena, drew letter A. His company was enlisted in Stephenson
County, and principally in the townships of Winslow, West
Point, and Kent. Harvey M. Timms, of Loran, was First Lieu-
tenant, and William Cox, of Winslow, Second Lieutenant. On
the day of muster, the company numbered ninety all told. Cap-
tain Albert Woodcock, of Oregon, Ogle County, drew letter K.
His company was enlisted from all parts of Ogle Count}'. Hor-
ace J. Smith, of Oregon, was First Lieutenant, and Horace C.
Scoville, of Mt. Morris, was Second Lieutenant. There were,
ninety-four rank and file. Captain C. T. Dunham, of Freeport,
drew letter F. His company was organized at Freeport, but was
made up of men from all parts of Stephenson County. Alfred
G. Dunham, of Cherry Valley, was First Lieutenant, and Wil-
Ham C. Dove, of Freeport, was Second Lieutenant. The com-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 29
pany numbered ninety-five. Captain Matthew Van Buskirk, of
Polo, drew letter E. His company was enlisted in Ogle County,
in the vicinity of Polo, Forreston, and Brookville. Joseph L.
Spear, of Polo, was First Lieutenant, and Jeremiah Vorhis, of
Polo, was Second Lieutenant. The company was ninety-four
strong. Captain Wilber W. Dennis, of Byron, drew letter- B.
His company enlisted in Ogte County, in the vicinity of Byron
and Rock Vale. William H. Crowell, of Marion, Ogle County,
was First Lieutenant, and Ephraim W. Bauder, of Leaf River,
Second Lieutenant. The company mustered eighty-five. Cap-
tain John M. Schermerhorn, of Lena, drew letter G. His com-
pany was raised in Stephenson County, principally in the
townships of West Point, Kent, and Waddams. John Gishwiller,
of Lena, was First Lieutenant, and Justin N. Parker, of Lena,
Second Lieutenant. The company had ninety-five rank and file.
Captain Lyman Preston, of Polo, Ogle County, drew letter D.
His company was enlisted in Ogle County, in the vicinity of Polo
and Pine , Creek. George R. Skinner, of Polo, was First Lieu-
tenant, and Oscar F. Sammis, of Polo, Second Lieutenant. The
company had ninetv-four officers and men. Captain Egbert T.
E. Becker, of Mt. Carroll, drew letter I. His company was
enlisted in Carroll County, Mt. Carroll, Lanark, Cherry Grove,
and Wysox being well represented. David B. Colehour, of Mt.
Carroll, was First Lieutenant, and Alexander M. York, of Lan-
ark, was Second Lieutenant. The company was ninety-six
strong, aside from the Captain, who was the strongest man in the
company. Captain William Stouffer, of Mt. Carroll, drew letter
C. His company was raised in Carroll County, Mt. Carroll,
Savanna, and York being well represented. Robert M. A. Hawk,
of Lanark, was First Lieutenant, and Norman Lewis, of York,
Second Lieutenant. The company mustered ninety-three.
Captain James Brice, of Rochelle, Ogle County, drew letter H.
His company was enlisted in Ogle County, principally in Ro-
chelle and White Rock. James Dawson, of Rochelle, was First
Lieutenant, and Edward Mason, of White Rock, Second Lieu-
tenant. Captain Brice had one hundred and six officers and men
in his company, aside from himself; and the Captain was too old
to he counted, except for his lofty patriotism, which induced him
to enlist when far on the downhill side of life. Company H was
the overflowing company of the Ninety-Second. The officers
and men of the Regiment had not been subjected to the searching
medical examination required by strict justice, justice to the
30 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
*
men themselves, and justice to the Government, which required
not only patriotic hearts, but well developed brawn. Yet, taken
together, it was a band of sturdy yeomanry, equal to any for the
fatigue of the march or the shock of battle. We feel perfectly
safe in saying, that no finer body of men, physically, mentally,
and morally, were ever mustered together into a military
organization.
On September 5, 1862, the first regimental order was issued
by the Colonel, announcing the duties of the day, from reveille
in the morning until taps at night; and the roll calls, sick calls,
meal calls, commissary calls, quarter-master calls, guard mounts,
squad drills, company drills, battalion drill, and dress parade, took
up every moment of time from sunrise to sundown. Captains
found that they had parted with some of their authority. If they
wanted to stroll down into the city, it was necessary to obtain a
pass ; and, if in the evening, the countersign to return by ; and
passes for the men had to be approved at the head-quarters of
the Regiment. That evening the first regimental dress parade
was held. Just at sundown, the Regiment was formed into line
by Adjutant Lawver. They were without arms; and the Colonel
was received, with great solemnity, by each officer and soldier
removing his cap, with military precision, at the word of com-
mand. Captain Becker and associates sang The Star Spangled
Banner. The Orderly Sergeants reported the strength of their
companies. The commissioned officers marched to the front and
center, and " maintained an awful line, as they marched up to
face the Colonel for the first time at dress parade." They saluted
him gravely. Parade was dismissed. The Orderly Sergeants
marched their companies to their quarters, and the officers hur-
ried after them. The first day's soldiering was done.
On the sixth, Lieutenant Tibbits, U. S. A., paid each man in
the Regiment thirteen dollars, one month's pay. The seventh
was Sabbath. Many were permitted to spend the Sabbath at
home, with family and friends once more. Many attended
church in Rockford, and many in the grove adjoining the camp,
on the banks of Rock River, a beautiful spot. The camp was
filled with visitors from miles around. On Monday forenoon,
the Regimental Quarter-master issued uniforms; and in the after-
noon, the first regimental drill was had, still without arms. The
next day, all the duties called for by orders were gone through
with. Kind friends at home seemed afraid the boys would starve;
and wagon loads of cooked provisions, turkeys, chickens, pies,
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 31
cakes, puddings, and everything else that loving sister or mother
could imagine a soldier would eat, were brought to camp, and
resulted in about half the Regiment first learning to " double-
quick," in their reluctant endeavors to perform the " Rock River
Quickstep." That never was a popular march with the Ninety -
Second ; but, soonef or later, every officer and soldier learned it
to perfection. It was laughable to see them " light out," solitary
and alone, when the silent, but painful order came to " march,"
and to note how slowly and demurely they would creep back to
their quarters. On the eleventh, the Colonel left for Springfield,
to draw arms and accoutrements; and the next day, Lieutenant
Colonel Sheets commanded the Regiment, for the first time on
battalion drill. He made a fine appearance on " Old Blutcher,"
whose long body, and long legs, and long neck, and long nose,
were proofs that he scented the battle a long way off, and longed
for the fray. On the thirteenth, the Colonel returned from
Springfield with Enfield Rifles for the Regiment. The fourteenth
was Sabbath, and the first regimental inspection was held.
There was preaching in the grove, attended by the entire encamp-
ment. Dress parade, with a religious song by Captain Becker's
glee club, closed the duties of the day. On Monday, the " dress"
coats were issued. The little men looked laughable in their dress
coats, which fit them like a shirt on a bean pole ; but the large
men, with their hands dangling wildly, six inches below their
coat cuffs, and. their coat skirts just below their belts, were the
most laughable. By dint of considerable swapping between the
big and the little fellows, a nearer approach to a fit was obtained;
and the company tailors, by cutting off redundancies for the little
ones, and letting out seams for the big ones, finally brought the
men into fair uniformity in dress. The Regiment was now in
complete uniform ; the guns and equipments were new and bright;
the men were becoming steady in their drill, and methodical in
their movements; the officers acquiring confidence in their ability
to command. Company A bought a handsome sword for Cap-
tain Ballinger, which was presented with speech-making and
replies, and wound up with an oyster supper given by the Cap-
tain to his company. On the seventeenth, bv special application
to Governor Yates, permission was granted to the Colonel to fur-
lough twenty men from each company for forty-eight hours.
The men drew lots for the privilege of once more visiting home,
and two hundred soldiers were made happv. Many thought their
luck was hard, when a comrade with no wife and children would
32 NINETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
get the lucky privilege, and they, knowing their wives and babies
were lonely at home, would draw blanks. On the twenty-fourth,
the furloughed men were back to camp; and the Regiment
marched to the Fair Grounds, while the County Fair was in
progress, as did the other regiments in camp at Rockford; and
the members of the Ninety-Second thought'they won the most
plaudits for drill and soldierly bearing. On Sunday, the twenty-
first, there was the usual inspection of arms, clothing, camps,
quarters, kitchens, and company books. Captains were begin-
ning to learn that they were responsible for ever}' article issued to
their companies, and must give receipts for and take receipts for
everything obtained or issued. There was preaching to the mul-
titude of soldiers and citizens in the grove, dress parade at sun-
down, and a temperance lecture to the troops in the evening.
On Tuesday, the twenty-third, the papers contained the Presi-
dent's preliminary emancipation proclamation, giving the Rebels
one hundred days to return to their allegiance. That it created
much discussion in the Regiment, is true. It was a rainy day ;
the ordinary camp duties were suspended, and little knots
were gathered through the camp discussing it. The general
verdict was approved. Indeed, manv hoped that the war would
not end before the hundred days had expired, and the freedom of
the black man had become secure. Some of the arguments used
by the soldiers were exceedingly apt and logical, as was this:
"According to the Southern idea, the black man is property.
Well, now, we can confiscate property in war. Nobody com-
plains if we take their mules to draw our wagon trains. If a
confiscated mule could take my musket and stop a Rebel bullet
in my place, I would not be sorry about it. I guess a nigger,
who is property, can be confiscated from the Rebels ; and if he
will take a musket and help us fight, all the better for the prop-
erty." The soldiers could see that freedom to the black man
meant regiments and brigades of black men, with muskets and
bayonets. On the next day, a train load of excursionists, from
Winslow, Lena, Freeport, and other places, visited camp, to see
their friends in the Regiment. At battalion drill that afternoon,
five thousand ladies and gentlemen looked on: and it was an
awkward drill, for the officers would bow to their particular friends
among the young ladies; and the men would not keep their eyes
steadily to the front, touching the ground at fifteen paces; but
they, too, would have some recognition for sweethearts, or a sly
glance as they passed, just to see if she was looking. The Colo-
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 33
nel had so many sweethearts to attract his attention, that he at
one time forgot all about the Regiment, and it marched bang up
against a high board fence. The next Sabbath, the Ninety-
Second escorted the 74th Illinois Volunteers to the depot, that
regiment having been ordered to Louisville, Kentucky. On the
first of October, knapsacks, haversacks, and canteens were
issued. The few old soldiers in the Regiment, with airs of im-
portance, showed those who had never seen one before, how to
pack a knapsack. From the first to the sixth, it was beautiful
weather; the camp was full of visitors, and the drills were fine
displays. On the seventh, twenty-seven dollars advance bounty
money was paid each man. On the night of the seventh, some
foolish difficulty arose between a portion of the 96th and Ninety-
Second men, while in the city ; and it required the efforts of the
officers of both regiments to prevent it taking the shape of a
general scrimmage with muskets. On the eighth, the 9&th
Illinois Volunteers left Rockford for the South. On the morning
of the ninth, the Ninety-Second received its first marching
orders. There was no drilling. The camp was full of fathers,
and mothers, and sisters, and sweethearts, bidding their soldier-
boys "good-bye." It was no ordinary journey on which that
thousand men were about entering; it was a march to battle, and,
for many, to the grave. No one could tell who would come back
again, and who would fall by the way. They were sad good-
byes. On the morning of the tenth, in full strength, with
blankets rolled and knapsacks packed, the Ninety-Second, with
music, and with colors flying, marched down through the streets
of Rockford, and embarked on a special train for Chicago, reach-
ing there at 3 P. M.; marched through the streets of Chicago to
the Illinois Central Depot, and stacked arms. At 6 P. M., the
Regiment took a special train for Cincinnati, and at 10 A. M. next
day, was delaj'ed, waiting for the repair of the railroad bridge
over the W abash River, near the battle-ground of Tippecanoe.
Some of the soldiers straggled oft" into the surrounding
orchards, for apples : and Dick McCann, of Company D,- of Polo,
was ferociously attacked by a tame deer, and while making a wild
retreat, the deer, with his sharp antlers, helped Dick along.
Dick was the first man wounded in the Ninetv-Second, and the
only one who ever retreated without orders. Owing to various
delays, the Regiment did pot reach Indianapolis until after dark,
and was all night reaching Cincinnati, arriving there at daylight;
and marched immediately through the streets of Cincinnati, in
4
34 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS..
the solemn stillness of the Sabbath morning, crossing the Ohio
River on a bridge of floating coal barges, and on through the
city of Covington, treading, for the first time, i the "sacred soil"
of Kentucky, and camped four miles south of the Ohio, in the
valley of the Licking. The sullen roar of artillery was heard to
the southward; it was the Union advance, pushing along the rear
guard of the Rebel column, under Kirby Smith, whose near
approach to Cincinnati had frightened some of the Porkopolis-
ites nearly out of* their wits. The Regiment held a dress parade
at sundown ; and then, without tents, for the first time, spread
their blankets on the ground, and lay wearily down, with only
the star-lit dome of heaven above them.
On Monday, the Regiment drew Bell-Tents, and a six-mule
team and wagon for each company. The entire day was spent in
breaking in the little three-year old mules, and in pitching tents,
and fixing up camp. On the next day, there was a review and
inspection of the Regiment, General Baird, Division Commander,
being present; and he complimented the Regiment highly for its
fine marching and drill. On the fifteenth, the Union regiments
that had garrisoned Cumberland Gap, reached Covington, ragged,
footsore, and weary. The camping ground was among the most
abrupt hills and gullies; and the battalion drills at Covington
will long be remembered. No matter how rough the ground,
the regimental manoeuvres were gone through with all the same;
and it was laughable to see the men sometimes helping each
other up the abrupt banks, or trying to dress into line on a side-
hill so steep they could not stand still in the position of a
soldier. At noon, on the eighteenth of October, the Regiment
received orders to be ready to march at 4 P. M. It was not to
march by cars or steamer, but to strap knapsacks on backs; roll
blanket, and tie the ends together, and hang it over the shoul-
der; put on a belt with a cartridge box and forty rounds of ball
cartridges; bayonet scabbard, with bayonet in it; and, with a
heavy Enfield Rifle, take the " route step" and trudge along
through the country, weary mile after weary mile. The start
was always splendid; every man in ranks, colors flying, drum
corps playing, arms at a shoulder or right shoulder shift, and left,
left, left, always with the tap of the bass drum ; but after a while,
the drum corps quit playing, the colors were furled, and " route
step" was the command. The officers returned swords to scab-
bards, and the men no longer carried their arms in any particular
way, or tried to keep step, but trudged along, like any other weary
XINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 3$
foot-man, for miles and miles and miles, through towns, over
streams, passing farm, and orchard, and forest, up hill, down hill,
on, on, on. The march was to Independence, county-seat of
Kenton County, probably thirteen miles from the camp at Cov-
ington, through a beautiful country, along a broad, smooth, lime-
stone pike road. Needham, the Drum Major, had marched in
the armj r before, and he tried hard to keep the Regiment from
pushing on so fast, but it was useless; the men were fresh and
strong, and they pushed ahead, determined to reach camp and
have the march over. The men, as they marched along that
October afternoon, continually heard the rumble of artillery-firing
to the front, the skirmishing of the Union forces with the Rebels
under Morgan, whose advance, on its march southward, occupied
Lexington that dav. The Regiment went into camp after dark,
on the County Fair Grounds of Kenton County. It was a much
longer march than the Regiment ought to have made; and weary
and tired out with their first day's marching of thirteen miles,
began late and ended late, many sank upon the ground in an
exhausted condition, and went supperless to sleep. It rained
during the night, rained as it only can when thousands of men
are laying out in the storm without shelter. Reveille sounded at
the first gray of morning; the Regiment was roused from slum-
ber, and many stood cold and shivering. A high board fence
inclosed the Fair Grounds; but not a board could be touched for
fires to fry the u sow-belly" and make coffee; and many munched
their " hard-tack" in the rain, and made no effort to cook. Many
who had disdained the coarse army shoes, with broad heels and
fiat, thick soles,- and clung to their neat-fitting French calf-skin
boots, learned their error; they could not get their boots on their
swollen feet, and, tieing them together, they slung them over
their shoulders, and marched on the gritty pike in their bare feet.
At seven A. M., the Regiment moved out, and down the pike
road, and made nineteen miles that day. The Regiment marched
at sunrise on the twentieth, and left the pike road to strike Fal-
tnouth in the Licking River valley; but after fourteen miles'
inarch, being delayed by the igth Michigan wagon trains, halted
for th night. On the twenty-first, the inarch was resumed early.
Soon after marching, the Colonel observed some men of
Company A going into the fields. Their movements were
watched. They killed a couple of sheep, and, dressing them, put
the mutton into the company wagon of Company A. The Regi-
ment kept on, and reached Falmouth at eleven A. M. The
36 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
owner of the sheep killed, professing to be a good Union man,
was soon detailing his loss of mutton to the Colonel. The men
of Company A were called up; they saw they were caught; and,
as the Colonel suggested that it would be a good thing to take
up a collection and pay for the sheep, it was quickly done. Then
said one of them, " Well, Colonel, I suppose we can have the
mutton now?" But the Colonel replied, " No, it is paid for; and
this time I will let you off without further punishment. But,
boys, just take the mutton up to the hospital, to make broth for
the sick." The joke on Company A got out among the other
companies of the Regiment; and if any one said, " Ba! ba!" to a
Company A man after that, he had to run or fight. The Regi-
ment went into regular camp at Falmouth, and, the next day and
the day following, had regular battalion drills.
On the twenty-fourth, the Regiment marched at six A. M.
for Lexington, and, after marching sixteen miles over a very hilly
country, camped on the banks of the Licking ; and, on the next
day, marched fourteen miles, being turned out, off from the pike
onto a dirt road at four P. M., by command of General Granger,
to save a mile's march, and was two hours marching, in mud
ankle deep, to make a mile and a half, and camped at dark near
Cynthiana, in a snow-storm, with snow five or six inches deep.
The Colonel declined to occupy a house near at hand for his
head -quarters, but had the snow cleared away, and his tent put
up, and a fire built close to the door in front, and then sounded
the "officers' call," just to 'show the officers how snug and com-
fortable one could make himself, even in a dark night, and in a
snow-storm, by a little work. He then sounded the " orderlies'
call," and only to show them how easy it was to make themselves
comfortable by trying. But it was a sad sight to stroll through
the camp and see the men stand shivering in the storm, weary,
and apparently helpless. It is only by long experience that sol-
diers learn how to take care of themselves. Money had been
voluntarily subscribed by the officers and men, to purchase in-
struments for a band; and Collen Bauden left by rail that
evening for Cincinnati, to purchase the silver horns for the Ninety-
Second band. On the twenty-sixth, the Regiment trampetl on
through the snow to Paris, and camped at four P. M. On the
twenty-seventh, marched early for Lexington, but, after marching
five miles, was ordered to halt and go into camp. The twenty-
eighth was a beautiful day, and the Regiment marched early,
and reached Lexington at three P. M. The march was along the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 37
pike north of Lexington, the most beautiful portion of the blue-
grass region of Kentucky. The Regiment passed the plantation
of Cassius M. Clay, walled in by stone fences, its oak-studded
blue-grass fields filled with blooded Short Horns. The Regiment
was joyfully welcomed in Lexington, by the colored people,
especially by one little darkey at the head of the Regiment, who
sang without ceasing, in a sesawing sort of a way,
" Wake up, snakes, pelicans, and Sesh'ners!
Don't you hear 'um comin'
Comin' on de run?
Wake up, I tell yer! Git up, Jefferson !
Bobolishion's comin'
Bob-o lish-i-on!"
The Regiment marched through the city in column of platoons,
arms at a right shoulder shift, and a thousand voices joined the
chorus of " John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the grave."
The Regiment passed in sight of the monument of Henry Clay,
a beautiful iron column, one hundred and thirty feet high, and
camped one and a half miles west of Lexington.
On the twenty-ninth, orders came to march ; and on the next
day, we were off on the pike to Winchester, and marched twelve
miles and camped. Negroes came flocking to the Regiment, and
desired to accompany it, but were advised by the Colonel not to
do so. 'During the night, some of the soldiers who had been out
foraging approached a picket post, where Lieutenant Scoville, of
Company K, was on duty, and were arrested; and not being able
to account for their turkeys, chickens, and honey, the Lieutenant
ordered them to be retained at the picket post until morning ;
but during the night, they slipped away from the picket post,taking
all their turkeys, chickens, and honey with them, and the army
blanket of the Lieutenant in addition. The Lieutenant made no
report of their arrest the next morning. On the morning of the
thirty-first, marched early, passing through Winchester, and as
soon as east of the town, an advance guard was sent out for the
first time. The Regiment went into camp in the woods, early in
the afternoon. During the month, the Ninety-Second had
marched five hundred and fifty miles. All day long, negroes
had been flocking to the Ninety-Second, but were uniformly
advised to return to their masters.
On Saturday, November first, 1862, the Regiment reached
Mt. Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky, and went into
38 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
camp one mile south of the town. While the Regiment was
marching into the grove to encamp, the following communication
was handed to the Colonel :
" FAYETTEVILLE Co., KY., Nov. ist, 1862.
COLONELS COCHRAN AND ATKINS :
Gentlemen: My brother-in-law, Mr. Graves, informs me that
one of his servants has left, and may be following your com-
mand. Mr. Graves has had a great deal of trouble during the
Rebel raid ; they have taken sixty odd of his cattle, and one of
his best horses. I feel well satisfied that Mr. Graves has not
aided the Rebellion ; he is a pacifier man, stays at home attending
to his farm. You will confer a special favor on me by granting
any aid Mr. Graves ask's in regaining his servant, which may be
compatible with your stations.
Very Respectfully Yours,
HOWARD SHAFFER,
JACOB HOUGHS."
On the back of which was written the following :
" COL. ATKINS, Comd'g g2d 111. Vol.:
I am satisfied, from the statement of the above gentleman, as
well as other evidences I have, that Mr. Graves is a 'loyal citizen.
He informs me that he has a Boy within your lines : if so, have
him put outside of the lines. Yours Truly,
J. C. COCHRAN,
Col. Comd'g Demi-Brigade."
The Colonel was evidently in a brown study; he read the
order over again, and then called Major Bohn, and giving him
the order, directed him to learn if the " Boy" referred to was in
the lines of the Regiment, and if so, to have him put outside,
and to endorse his action in writing on the order. The Colonel
visited the village, and had an interview with the so-called Union
men, and returned to camp in the evening. That evening the
Colonel examined the Proclamation of President Lincoln, dated
September 22, 1862, and published by the War Department, Ad-
jutant General's Office, Washington, September 24, 1862, in
General Orders, War Department, No 1391, and found that it
contained the following :
" Attention is hereby called to the Act of Congress entitled,
' An Act to make an additional Article of War,' approved March
13, 1862, and which Act is in the words and figures following:
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 39
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That
hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional
Article of War for the Government of the United States, and
shall be obeyed and observed as such :
" ARTICLE All officers or persons in the Military or Naval
service of the United States are prohibited from employing any
of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of
returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped
from any person to whom such service or labor is claimed to be
due; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a Court-
Martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the
service.
" SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take
effect from and after its passage."
President Lincoln, in his Proclamation, added, " And I do
hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military
and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and
enforce, within their respective spheres of service, the act and
section above recited."
The Colonel called Major Bohn, and called for the order irom
Colonel Cochran, and his endorsement ; the order was handed to
the Colonel, with the following endorsement by Major Bohn :
" HEAD-QUARTERS 92d ILL. VOL., i
CAMP DICK YATES, MT. STERLING, KY., /
November ist, 1862. )
The within named servant has been taken without the lines
by order of S. D. Atkins, Col. 92d 111. Vol.
JOHN H. BOHN,
Major 92d Reg. 111. Vol."
The Colonel read the endorsement, by the Major, and called
his attention to the Article of War. and the Proclamation of
President Lincoln, above quoted, and desired to know what
answer he could make why he should not be Court-Martialed
and dismissed the service; and assured him that he was aston-
ished that anv citizen of Carroll Countv, Illinois, would engage
in the unspeakably low employment of hunting up black men
living irom slavery. But the Major was an able lawyer, and
quite equal to the occasion. Said he, "In the first place, I was
obeying the positive order of my superior officer, Colonel Atkins;
and in the second place, I did not return the ' Boy ' to ' any per-
son to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due.' I took
4 o NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
him to the picket post, and told him to make tracks for the
north side of the Ohio river." The Major's plea was accepted,
and he was not Court-Martialed. But it was unanimously re-
solved by the Field Officers, that if Colonel Cochran sent anv
more such orders they should not be obeyed ; but that the Proc-
lamation of President Lincoln, and the new Article of War,
should be the rule on that question.
The following day was the Sabbath. The camp was regularly
laid out, and policed. A Rebel soldier, who was home on a fur-
lough, was brought in. Scouting parties were sent out on all the
roads, and permanent picket posts and regimental guards estab-
lished. The Colonel prepared an order assuming command of
the Post of Mt. Sterling and vicinity, and went to the village to
have it printed. Before printing it he read it to the " Loyal
Kentuckians," who gave their general approval. As soon as
done reading the order, he was presented with several written
commands from Colonel Cochran, directing him to deliver up fugi-
tive slaves. He referred the citizens to the Proclamation of
President Lincoln and the law of Congress enacting the new
Article of War, and declined to obey the orders of Colonel
Cochran. He was informed, by the citizens, that Colonel
Cochran had directed them to report his refusal to him, and was
assured that no Kentuckian would countenance a set of " nigger
thieves," and that all " Loyal Kentuckians " would withdraw
their support from his command. Thev were evidentlv pleased
at his refusal, regarding it as a test question, and said that if the
Colonel was sustained, Kentuckv would be a unit for the cause
of Jefferson Davis. The Colonel then added the last paragraph
to the order, and it was printed as follows:
" HEAD-QUARTERS CAMP DICK YATES, c
MT. STERLING, KY., Nov. 2, 1862. f
" General Orders, No. i.
" In compliance with General Orders No. i, issued from the
Head-quarters of Demi Brigade, I hereby assume command of
the post of Mt. Sterling and vicinity.
" Loyal citizens will be protected as such, and the civil au-
thorities assisted in the enforcement of the laws.
" All loyal citizens and soldiers in Mt. Sterling and vicinitv
are commanded to give information of the whereabouts of any
one who is now, or has been in anv capacity in the Confederate
service, and to arrest all such parties found in Mt. Sterling or
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 41
vicinity, and report them in custody to the commander of the
post for further proceedings.
" All loyal citizens are commanded to give information to the
commander of the post, of the whereabouts of any citizen who
has at any time during hostilities given any aid or comfort to the
common enemy.
" Farmers are invited to bring their marketable products to
the town and camp for sale, and will be granted protection in so
doing.
" Dealers in intoxicating liquors are commanded not to sell, or
in any way to dispose of any intoxicating liquor to any soldier.
Any one doing so will, for the first offense, have his stock in
trade destroyed ; and for the second offense, be severely punished
and confined.
" Loyal citizens who are the owners of slaves, are respectfully
notified to keep them home, as no part of my command will in any
way be used for the purpos* of returning fugitive slaves. It is
not necessary for Illinois soldiers to become slave-hounds to
demonstrate their loyalty; their loyalty has been proven upon
too many bloody battle-fields to require new proof.
" By command of SMITH D. ATKINS,
Col. 92d 111. Vol. Com. Post.
" I C. LAWYER, Adj't."
That order appeared, for a little while, to have settled the fate
of the Ninety-Second. There was no Kentuckian loyal enough
to stand the last' paragraph ! The very officious "loyal Ken-
tuckians," who had essayed to control the Colonel in his action,
were the most bitter in denouncing him and the Regiment.
An amusing incident occurred the first Sabbath the Regiment
was in Mt. Sterling. Captain Woodcock and Lieutenant Horace
J. Smith were out walking, when they were hailed by a citizen,
and invited to come in and stay to dinner. During the conver-
sation which ensued, Captain Woodcock had informed his host
that he belonged to the Methodist Church. When dinner was
announced as ready, the Kentuckian, with true Kentucky hos-
pitality, addressed them, saving: " Well, gentlemen, before we
dine, let us take a drink of Bourbon whisky ; you drink, don't
you, Lieutenant? There is no use of asking I he Captain, because
he told me he \\asa Methodist, and the Methodists all drink!"*
The Lieutenant declined, and so did Captain Woodcock ; but the
Kentuckian did not understand how Woodcock could be a mem-
5
42 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
her of the Methodist Church, and not drink Bourbon whisky
before dinner. There was, evidently, considerable difference
between Methodism in Kentucky and Methodism in Illinois.
On Monday, the regular duties of the camp were resumed.
Many negroes flocked to see the dress parade, and some Ken-
tucky white ladies came to see, and to hear the music and hear
the songs by the glee club. On Tuesday, November 4th, 1862,
the Regiment held an informal election for Member of Congress
from the Third Illinois District, which resulted in an almost
unanimous vote for Hon. E. B. Washburne. It was of no
importance. Illinois soldiers in the field were disfranchised!
Hospitals were arranged in the unoccupied buildings in the vil-
lage, and under the care of the Regimental Surgeons and Miss
Addie Parsons, of Byron, and Miss Fannie Carpenter, of Polo,
the two heroic lady nurses, the " Daughters of the Regiment,"
the sick of the Ninety-Second were comfortably provided for.
The Regiment had review, inspection, and dress parade. Many
prisoners were being picked up by our scouting parties. On
the fifth, Captain Becker, of Company I, with a sufficient guard,
went to Lexington, to turn over fifty prisoners that had accumu-
lated in the command. Two more prisoners were brought into
camp. At night it rained. At about twelve o'clock at night, the
reports of two guns were heard in quick succession. Needham,
Drum Major, beat the long roll, and in just three minutes the
Regiment was in line of battle. Scouts were sent out in all
directions, but rio enemy was found. Some said the guns were
fired by negroes hunting coons. No one was hurt; but Needham
stove in the heads of three drums in beating the long roll, and
Major Bohngot into his pantaloons with his pantaloons wrong end
up. As soon as it was demonstrated that no enemy was near,
the men returned to their slumbers. On the sixth, Benjamin
Hetrick, of Company B, was shot and fatally wounded by the
accidental discharge of a gun at the guard tent. lie died the next
day, and his funeral, on the eighth, was attended by the entire
Regiment. The ninth was Sabbath, and the customary inspec-
tion of arms, clothing, and quarters was held. The weather was
beautiful. The preaching by the Chaplain was largely attended.
The camp was flooded with upward of five hundred colored peo-
ple, men and women, old and young, gaudily dressed, and in
tatters and rags, and of all colors. A soldier, in his diary,
writes: " Some of the slaves are as white as the Yankees. One
child was as white as any child, and was really pretty. The
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 43
more I see of slavery, the more I hate and despise the accursed
thing." There were more orders from Colonel Cochran to de-
liver up fugitives, but they were not obeyed. At night, if any
negroes were in the camp who were not employed as servants by
the officers, they were turned out of camp. There were no
rations to be issued to them, no tents or clothing for them ; and
while the Colonel would not issue orders to return them to their
masters, he was compelled to keep his camp from being flooded
and overwhelmed with them. From day to day, the negro prob-
lem was the great difficulty. If a negro was employed by an
officer as a servant, and was furnished with a written certificate
by the officer to that effect, he was protected. If his master
called for him, and was a Rebel, he was quietly informed that his
application was useless. If he could establish his loyalty, there
was no instance where the officer longer employed the negro;
neither the Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, nor Major employed any
colored servant in Kentucky. The thirty-seven officers of the
Regiment were all entitled to servants; and just fifteen employed
Kentucky negroes in that capacity, and all of them the former
slaves of Rebels, either serving in the Rebel army, or giving aid
or comfort to the Rebellion. But it appeared as though the whole
State of Kentucky was fated to go wild over those fifteen colored
servants.
On the fourteenth of November, the water having given out
in the spring near the encampment, the camp was moved three
miles north of Mt. Sterling, on the Maysville pike, on the planta-
tion of Colonel Thompson, who was serving " loyal Kentucky"
in the Rebel army. Here the Regiment camped by the side of
his cattle pond. The frosty nights had somewhat purified the
water. The pond was simply a hole scooped out in a field, and
the bottom puddled to hold the rain water that accumulated in it.
Thorougly boiled, and set out over night in the frosty air, it was
a very palatable and healthful drink. On the fifteenth, Major
Bohn drilled the Regiment for the first time. In the night, orders
came to march to Nicholasville, and report to General Baird.
On Sabbath morning, November sixteenth, the Regiment
marched at six o'clock, down through Mt. Sterling, and out on
the Winchester pike. About sixty men of the Regiment were
left in the hospitals at Mt. Sterling, under the charge of Dr. Na-
than Stephenson, Army Surgeon. Little regret was felt at leav-
ing Mt. Sterling. But, while the people could not forgive the
Regiment for its course on the negro question, thev were exceed-
44 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
ingly hospitable, and many good Union families were there.
It can be said, to the great credit of the village, that, after the
Regiment had left, the residents were exceedingly kind to the
sick of the Ninety-Second left behind. The Regiment marched
twelve miles, and camped on the old ground it had occupied the
night before reaching Mt. Sterling. A hard rain-storm prevailed
during the night. The Regiment again marched at davlight.
Many negroes came in from the fields and woods, as the Regi-
ment marched along, and brought wild stories of the gathering
of ten thousand armed people at Winchester, where Colonel
Cochran was encamped with the I4th Kentucky Infantry, and,
with the assistance of the Kentucky "loyal" blue coated soldiers,
were determined to take the colored servants emploved by the
line officers out of the Regiment by force, and " clean out" the
whole Regiment of " nigger thieves." A few miles before reach-
ing Winchester, a Kentucky lady pointed out a colored lad as her
" Boy," and demanded of the Colonel his release ; and when
asked if she was a Union woman, she replied, " No, I am a Rebel.
You can keep him now, but you will never take him or any other
slave beyond Winchester; and you yourself \vill be put into jail,
unless you are killed." The Regiment all knew that the Colonel
did not want to be killed, or go to jail. When the Regiment
reached the top of the hill near Winchester, where the men could
look down into the town, it was apparent that the stories told by
the negroes, although exaggerated, contained much truth. The
streets were crowded with hundreds of people, mostly on foot,
and many mounted. The windows of the houses, on both sides
of the streets, were crowded with soldiers of the i4th Kentucky
Infantry. The head of the Regiment marched close to the town
and halted, and the Regiment closed up, and at the word of com-
mand, dressed into line of battle. Then came the commands,
" Order arms. Load at will. Load." Cartridges were handled,
and torn, and charged; rammers were drawn, and balls rammed
home; and the jingling steel ramrods returned, and gun-caps
placed on the nipples. Another command, "Attention, battalion.
Order arms. Fix bayonets." The rattling bayonets were placed
on the Enfields, and secured. The Colonel then said, " Soldiers
of the Ninety-Second, we are threatened with difficulty in passing
through this town. I hope there will not be any. Listen to my
orders. You will march in silence. No word must be spoken.
If you are spoken to, you must not reply. If a gun is fired at
you; if a brickbat, or club, or stone be thrown at you, do not
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 45
await orders, but resent it at once with bullet and bayonet. To be
attacked by citizens whose homes we are guarding, and by sol-
diers of Kentucky in the service of the United States, is no ordi-
nary warfare; we cannot meet it in the ordinary way. You
must not fire first; but if fired upon, kill every human being in
the town, and burn every building." A shout from the Regi-
ment that shook the houses, told that the men understood the
orders, and would obey them. All was again silent. A squad of
mounted Kentuckians, who had rode up to the head of the Regi-
ment, and listened to the Colonel's orders, scattered through the
town, telling the crowd what the Colonel's orders were. The
Colonel commanded, " Attention, battalion. Shoulder arms.
Right shoulder shift arms. By sections, right wheel. Forward,
march." Away the Regiment went. A soldier writes in a letter
home, " Lieutenant Hawk had charge of the van-guard, and as
he came sweeping around the square, with his fine, soldierly bear-
ing, and fight in his eye, the cowards fell back, putting their
pistols under their coats, knowing full well that it was useless to
say fight to the Ninety-Second." The Sheriff of the county, on
horse-back, rode up by the side of the Colonel, and asked if he
might speak to him, and was told that he could. He then served
summons upon the Colonel in several suits for stealing niggers.
One attempt was made to take a negro servant out from between
the sections of Company E, but it was not successful, and no
other molestation was experienced in Winchester. Had the Regi-
ment straggled along through Winchester, there would have been
trouble; but loaded guns, fixed bayonets, and a silent march, were
things not counted upon bv the Kentuckians. South-west of the
town about a mile, the Regiment was halted at the side of the
road on the hill, and the guns were emptied into the woods, the
whole Regiment firing at the word of command, the first time,
and the last time, that the Regiment together ever heard the
command, " Ready, aim, fire." It was said that the camp of the
i4th Kentucky was at the foot of the hill, in the direction of the
firing; but it was concealed bv the woods, and no one in the
Ninety-Second knew it. The rattling bullets from the Enfields
did no harm, for the camp of. the I4th Kentucky was deserted ;
they were all up at Winchester, where they had been swelling the
ovation given by the " loyal Kentuckians" to the Ninety-Second
as it marched along. It was a grand thing to have the entire
population turn out and give the Regiment a continual ovation ;
it was not just the kind of an ovation that would have pleased
46 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
the Regiment best, but it was better than no ovation. Marched
thirteen miles, and went into camp at Pine Grove. The rain had
ceased, and the evening was beautiful. Captain Schermerhorn,
always ready for sport, had laid a large barn-door on the ground,
and was superintending a dancing match between a lot of ne-
groes. The Captain knew how to pat "Juba," and knew just
where to put in encouraging remarks, like " Go in, Sambo," and
" Lay right down to it, Caesar ;" and the shouts of the boys enjoy-
ing the scene soon brought the entire Regiment out, to help the
sport along. It was a merry lot of men that formed the ring
there, in the moonlight, around the barn-door on the ground, and
laughed and shouted at the dancing of the darkies. And when
they had wearied of that, or the darkies had wearied, they called
on Major Bohn to sing a comic song. The blushing Major com-
plied, and sang what he chose to call the Colonel's favorite,
commencing, "Julie am a handsome gal, her heart am young
and tender." Then the Colonel, not being able to sing a song,
gave a specimen of the " Mexican double-shuffle," while Captain
Schermerhorn patted "Juba" and made encouraging remarks to the
Colonel. When not on duty the men and officers of the Ninety-
Second were always on an exact equality. Picket posts were estab-
lished, and a line guard put around the Regiment, and in the mid-
dle of the night an attack was made upon the picket post between
Winchester and the camp. A volley was fired by the picket. A
white woman living outside of the picket post, said there was a
large body of men there in the night, and after the firing, pressed
in a wagon to carry their wounded back toward Winchester.
The Regiment marched at daylight, and passed again through
Lexington. The streets were crowded with people. In column
of sections, the Regiment silently marched through the streets,
with colors flying, and drum corps playing. After gaining the
hill at the southern extremity of the town, the Major rode up to
the head of the Regiment and informed the Colonel that there
was trouble in the rear. The Colonel rode rapidly back, and
found company A surrounded by a crowd of deputy sheriffs,
special policemen, and cadaverous looking Kentuckians, who
had attempted to take a negro out from between the sections of
that company. The Regiment came to an about face, and
marchd back to company A. The Colonel commanded com-
pany A to load at will, and the ball cartridges soon went into
the guns. The Colonel took out his watch and told the crowd,
"I give you just three minutes to clear these streets; if you
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 47
remain that long these streets will run with blood." The
crowd exhibited commendable anxiety in getting around the
street corners in the rear of the Regiment, and out of sight.
The march was resumed, and the Regiment went into camp
three miles south of Lexington. Very polite attentions were
extended to the Colonel. General Quincy A. Gilmore, of the
United States Army, commanding a Division at Lexington, sent
the Colonel an invitation to dine with him but concluding it
was a ruse to get him into the hands of the sheriff, the Colonel
declined, and returned an invitation to the General to ride out to
camp and enjoy a little hard-tack and coffee. That it was a ruse
was soon demonstrated, for General Gilmore immediately sent a
peremptory command for the Colonel to report at his Head-
quarters in Lexington; but his aid-decamp was informed by the
Colonel, that he was already under orders to report to General
Baird, his own Division Commander, at Nicholasville, and if
General Gilmore really desired to see him he must ride out to the
camp of the Ninety-Second. The Governor of Kentucky also
extended his polite invitation to the Colonel to dine with him in
Lexington, but the Colonel sent word to the Governor to ride
out to the camp and dine with him. The next morning the
Sheriff of Lexington brought a letter from. General Gilmore to
the Colonel, written, Gilmore said, at the request of the Judge of
the Court, advising the Colonel to give up the negroes the line
officers had employed as servants, as, if he did not, he would be
subject to very severe penalties for contempt of court. But the
Colonel stood by the law of Congress and the Proclamation of
President Lincoln. The Colonel ought to have been punished for
contempt ; for he certainly entertained the liveliest contempt for
General Gilmore, and the Governor of Kentucky, and the
Judges, and all the balance of the Ketuckians and Regular Army
officers, who thought more of the institution of slavery than they
did of their country.
On the nineteenth, the Regiment trudged along in the rain
nine miles to Nicholasville, and went into camp. On the twen-
tieth, it cleared up, and the camp was permanently established.
On the next day, Brigadier General Juda inspected the Regiment,
and placed it first for drill, discipline, care of arms, and cleanli-
ness of camp. General Juda was a fussy old gentleman, but a
very thorough Inspector General. The Colonel received the
following communication from General Baird, commanding the
Division:
48 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
" HEAD-QUARTERS 3d DIVISION, ARMY OF KENTUCKY, }
NICHOLASVILLE, KY., Nov. 2ist, 1862. f
" COL. SMITH D. ATKINS,
Commanding Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers,
''Colonel: It having come to the knowledge of the General
Commanding, that during the time you were stationed at Mt.
Sterling, Ky., and subsequently, while upon the march from
thence to this place, grave questions, with regard to the rendition
of fugitive slaves, have arisen; and, also, that upon your march,
your Regiment was subjected to insult by certain members of
the I4th Kentucky Volunteers, combined with citizens and
others, he directs that you furnish a full and complete report of
all that transpired relative to that subject; and particularly, as
to how may negroes may, at that time, have taken refuge in
your camp, and the circumstances connected therewith. You
will also state, in your report, whether you delivered over any
of these persons to their claimants, and if so, under whose
orders, and what circumstances.
" I am, Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
B. H. POLK,
Capt. and A. A. A. G."
On the next day the Colonel replied to the communication of
the Commander of the Division as follows:
" HEAD-QUARTERS y2d ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS, /
NICHOLASVILLE, KY., Nov. 22, 1862. \
"CAi'T. B. H. POLK, A. A. A. G.,
"Sir: In compliance with your communication of yesterday,
I have the honor to report:
"That, on the first day of November, inst, Saturday, I arrived,
with my Regiment, at Mt. Sterling, Ky. On the road several
negroes desired to accompany mv Regiment, but I uniformly
advised them not to do so.
" I had scarcely arrived in camp, when a man presented an
order from Colonel Cochran, of the 14111 Ky., commanding me
to deliver up a fugitive slave, and, finding that the slave had got
into my Regiment on the road, I ordered him put out of the
lines, which was done. See exhibit 'A.'
"On Sunday, I issued General Order No. i, assuming com-
mand of the Post of Mt. Sterling and vicinity. Before printing
it I read the order to some of the ' loyal ' citizens of Mt. Sterling,
which order did not, at first, contain the last paragraph, relative
NINETY -S&^OND ^LLINOIS. 49
to slaves. While reading it a person sought me out and pre-
sented a written order from Colonel Cochran, commanding me to
deliver up a slave, and said to me that Colonel Cochran had
directed him to report me if I refused. I read the order, and
told him that I did not wish to harbor the slave of any loyal
man, but that as I understood the law, I had no right to deliver .
up fugitive slaves by taking them beyond my lines under guard,
and that I would not, even under that written order of Colonel
Cochran, hunt up any slave and send him beyond my lines, and
within the lines of the enemy; that I was in command of Mt.
Sterling and vicinity, and that to obey that order I might have
to go as far as Abingdon, Va., with the fugitive; but that if he
was a ' loyal ' man, and his slave was within my lines, that I
presumed that no opposition would be made by any one if he
took him. The man claiming the fugitive, and the others whom
I had before supposed to be ' loyal ' men, seemed greatly gratified
that I had refused to give up a fugitive slave upon the order
of Colonel Cochran, and informed me that the matter could now
be settled, making -of it a test question; and told me that all the
people of Montgomery County, Kentucky, would now be against
me. My Regiment was stigmatised as ' nigger thieves ' in my
hearing, and Illinoisans declared worse enemies of Kentucky
than the Rebels. After this exciting conversation, I added the
last paragraph to my General Order No. I.
" At this time I am very certain that there were not six slaves
within my Regimental lines.
" I cautioned my men against enticing any slave within my
lines, and urged upon them the impolicy of, in any way, inter-
fering with the slaves of loyal masters. My pickets would, how-
ever, occasionally bring one in, all of whom claimed to be slaves
of Rebels, and seeking protection. On receiving Colonel
Granger's General Order No. 15, dated Nov. 4th, I ordered, in
compliance with that order, that all persons, not enlisted men, or
regularly employed, to be put out of my camp, andone colored
person, and only one, was put out, and that included ALL within
my Regimental lines at that time.
" Colonel Cochran sent me repeated orders upon this subject,
(See Exhibit ' C.') some of which I have preserved, and some
of which I have lost, but none of which have I obeyed, except
the first one, as above stated.
"I endeavored to adopt a conciliatory course; did not permit
50 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
my camp to be filled up with " hangers-on," and none to remain
in after nightfall, except officers' servants, furnished with written
certificates, as per Army Regulations, and trusted that time
would allay the excitement. On Sabbath, the 8th, my camp was
filled with negroes, sent in from miles around, to the number of
five to eight hundred, in violation of my published order; and the
people seemed determined, by threatening my Regiment, and
sending their slaves into camp, to raise the question, and force it to
a violent issue.
41 When people came to my camp and furnished evidence of
their loyalty, and any of my line officers had EMPLOYED their
slaves, I introduced them to my officers ; and in every instance
where their loyalty has been undoubted, my officers have refused
to longer employ their slaves as servants, and they have been
permitted to take them. I uniformly refused to "order'' my offi-
cers to give them up; and I have as uniformly urged them not
to employ slaves of loyal men. Tn at least ten instances, where
the loyalty of the persons has been established to the satisfaction
of my officers, they have refused longer to employ the slaves,
and their masters have been permitted to take them away quietly
without opposition.
" Two days before I was relieved of the command of the post
at Mt. Sterling, the citizens informed me that the order relieving
me had been made; and I often heard that the i4th Kentucky
Infantry would join with the mob and the Rebels, and would
"clean out" my Regiment. In marching through Mt. Sterling,
no violence was offered but once, when a man said he would take
a negro from between the sections ; and I commanded my men,
that if he did so to bayonet him. One or two people standing on
the sidewalk drew pistols, but none were fired. All along the
road, 1 was told that at Winchester the I4th Kentucky Infantry
regiment (Colonel Cochran's), with the mob, would take every
negro out of my Regiment, or kill every man in it. When at the
edge of the town, I halted my command, ordered the men to load
and fix bayonets, and march in sections. I commanded my
Regiment to march silently, and in order, and under no circum-
stances to provoke an attack, or to answer any insulting remark
or questions; but if fired upon by any one, or if stones or clubs
were thrown, to fire in self-defense. The town was full of peo-
ple and soldiers, the sidewalks lined on both sides, many armed
with side arms, and, I am fully convinced, intended an attack,
but were intimidated by my bayonets and loaded guns. Only
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 51
one disturbance occurred, which is fully narrated in exhibit " D,"
to which I beg to refer.
" That night, while encamped at Pine Grove, west of Winches-
ter, Lieutenant B. F. Sheets, of ist Battalion, Kentucky Cavalry,
and an officer of the i4th Kentucky, came to the guard ; but, as I
then knew of their actions during the day, as stated in exhibit
" D," I refused to admit them, but received from them a written
communication signed by officers of the I4th Kentucky Infantry,
marked exhibit " E," to which I beg to refer.
" While marching through Lexington, Kentucky, a crowd,
armed with revolvers and stones, forcibly made an attempt to
take a nego from between two of the sections of my Regiment.
I was at once notified, and rode to the rear, and told the crowd
that if the attempt was again made, the streets of Lexington
would run with blood, as we could and would defend ourselves
from any attack. No further resistance was offered.
" The next morning, the Sheriff of Lexington, Kentucky,came
to my camp and desired to serve papers on me in civil suits, to
which I made no resistance; and he left divers chancery sum-
mons and orders of court with me, one of each of which I inclose
as a specimen of all the others, marked exhibit " F."
" I was also complimented by a large batch of similar docu-
ments at Winchester, Kentucky. The Sheriff of Lexington,
Kentucky, also brought me a letter from Brigadier General Q.
A. Gilmore, written, he said, at the request of the Judge of the
Court, advising me to obey the summons and court orders, as,
otherwise, I would be liable to severe punishment for contempt.
I replied to him, that I was busy with the Rebellion, expecting
soon to meet the enemy, and could not stop to hunt up negroes,
or formally answer bills in chancery, or orders of court, but
would be happy to spread upon the records of the court a com-
plete defense after the war was over.
" Three colored persons have been taken from my camp, upon
warrants charging them with crime all that have been so
claimed.
" There are yet fifteen men employed as servants by the com-
missioned officers of mv Regiment, some of whom I know to
have been formerly the slaves of Rebels. There are none in my
camp that are not so regularly employed as officers' servants.
" Countless rumors, to which I am unable to give any definite
form, have come to my ears, like these : ' The Kentucky troops
would annihilate the Ninety-Second Illinois.' ' The Governor of
52 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Kentucky would call out the militia, to suppress the Ninetv-
Second Illinois.' ' That the jails of Kentucky would be filled by
the nigger thieves from Illinois,' &c. ; all calculated to produce
excitement and collision, and evincing a determination, on the
part of Kentucky soldiers and citizens, to force the question to a
bloody issue.
"I have the honor to be, Captain, very respectfully, your
obedient servant, SMITH D. ATKINS,
" Colonel 92d Illinois Volunteers."
EXHIBIT " A."
" FAYETTEVILLE COUNTY, KENTUCKY, j
November ist, 1862. )
" Colonels Cochran and Atkins :
"Gentlemen: My brother-in-law, Mr. Graves, informs me
that one of his servants has left, and may be following your com-
mand. Mr. Graves has had a great deal of trouble during the
Rebel raid, they having taken sixty odd of his cattle, and one of
his best horses. I feel satisfied that Mr. Graves has not aided the
Rebellion ; he is a pacifier man, stays at home attending to his
farm. You will confer a special favor on me, by granting any
aid Mr. Graves asks in regaining his servant, which may be com-
patible with your stations.
" Very Respectfully Yours,
" HOWARD SHAFFER,
"JACOB HOUGHS."
" WINCHESTER, KY., Nov. ist, 1862.
" Colonel ATKINS, Comd'g g2d Illinois Volunteers :
" I am satisfied, by the statement of the above gentlemen, as
well as other evidence I have, that Mr. Graves is a loyal citizen.
He informs me that he has a Boy within your lines ; if so, have
him put outside of the lines. Yours Truly,
" J. C. COCHRAN,
" Col. Comd'g Demi-Brigade."
" HEAD-QUARTERS 920 ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS, j
CAMP DICK YATES, MT. STERLING, KY., >
November ist, 1862. )
" The within named servant has been taken without the lines,
by order of S. D. Atkins, Col. 92d 111. Vol.
" JOHN H. BOHN,
" Major 92d Reg. 111. Vol."
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 53
EXHIBIT "C."
" WINCHESTER, Nov. ist, 1862.
" Colonel ATKINS, Comd'g 92d 111. Vol.:
"Sir: Mr. James Ballurd informs me he has a Boy within
your lines. He is reported by the Union men here as being a
good Union man. He has in his possession a pass from the Pro-
vost Marshal of this place to that effect. If his Boy is inside of
your lines, have him put outside.
" Yours Truly, J. C. COCHRAN,
" Col. Comd'g Demi-Brigade "
" HEAD-QUARTERS DEMI-BRIGADE, }
WINCHESTER, Nov. ist, 1862. f
"Colonel ATKINS, Comd'g p2d 111. Reg. Vol. :
" Hiram Barclay, an undoubted Union man, of this county,
has a Boy within your lines. You will cause him to be put out-
side of vour lines, agreeably to General Gilmore's General
Order. J. C. COCHRAN,
" Col. Comd'g Demi-Brigade."
EXHIBIT " D."
" Nov. 1 7th, 1862.
" The 92d Ills. Vols., in marching from Mt. Sterling, Ky., to
Nicholasville, passed through Winchester, by sections, and had
command of the second section of Co. E; and as I gave the com-
mand, ' Right wheel,' three men came in on the right, and one of
them, who said he was a Lieutenant in the i4th Ky., (I think he
said the i4th Kentucky,) came into my section, and said to a
negro marching near me, ' Come out of there, you thick-
lipped son of a .' I brought my gun to the position of
' charge bayonet,' and told him that I had command of that sec-
tion, and would not be interrupted by any man. He asked me if
I intended to defeYid the nigger. I told him I did. He
said, ' I have come for him, and will have him or die. The*
Ninety-Second is good for nothing but to steal niggers. I am an
officer in the Union Army; that nigger belongs to a Union man,
and we will have him, if we follow the Regiment to .' I
then said, ' Get out of this section, or I will run you through
with my bayonet.' He stepped out to the right of the section,
and drew his revolver ; each of the others also drew revolvers,
54 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and he said, 'I will shoot the cuss.' (I do not know
whether he meant me or the negro.) I told them that if they
leveled or cocked their revolvers, they would be dead men, and
they had better put them up, and that if they did not, I would
order my section to charge. They then put up their pistols, and
the Lieutenant of the i4th Kentucky said, ' If you don't give up
that Boy, I will go to my regiment, and bring it up, and clean
your Regiment out.' I told him that we were ready at
any moment. He said, 'Are you going to give him up or not?'
I said, ' Never.' He said, ' Do you claim him ?' I said, ' No,
the Second Lieutenant has hired him, and if you want to ask any
more questions, go to the Colonel.' For I had disobeyed my
orders for the first time, by answering him a question. He said,
' It will do no good to go to him, for he is as big a thief as the
rest of you, and he will give me no satisfaction ; but I will go and
see the cuss.' And he went off, and when he came back,
he said, ' The Colonel says I can take him.' I said, ' You can, if
you have force enough.' He started back toward town, after fol-
lowing ijs about a mile, and said as he left, ' You may look for a
warm time.' I told him, ' That is just what we came for.' This
is a true statement of the conversation I had with the Lieutenant
of the I4th Kentucky, and I am willing to testify to it at any
time.
, "JAMES O'KANE,
" Orderly Sergeant Co. E, Q2d 111. Vol."
EXHIBIT " E."
" WINCHESTER, KY., Nov. lyth, 1862.
" Colonel ATKINS, Comd'g g2d 111. Vol. :
" Dear Sir : There are several negroes within your lines.
The fact of their being so is causing intense excitement, and
wounding the feelings of men who are unswerving in their loy-
alty and patriotism to our common cause. You have slaves
with you that belong to men who have had all their stock and
what property could be moved, taken from them by the Rebels.
*They think this Government they support should protect them
in their rights and property. If the negro is to be freed, let it be
done by the National Legislatures. If we understand the policy
of the General Government, it is not proposed to take the slaves
of either Rebels or loyal citizens without some formality of law.
The fact of your taking the slaves you have with you off, only
confirms the charges made by the Rebels, that we would deprive
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 55
the citizens of their slave property. For the good of our com-
mon cause, we expect you to turn them out of your lines.
" Yours Respectfully,
" GEORGE W. GALLUPP, Lt. Col. i^h Ky.
" R. M. THOMAS, Capt. i4th Ky.
"J. C. COLLINS, Capt. i4th Ky.
" JAMES H. DAVIDSON, Capt. i4th Ky.
" H. G. GARDNER, Capt. Co. I, i4th Ky.
" J. B. BUCHANAN, Capt. ist Batt, Ky.
" D. L. COOK, Lt. Co. A, ist Batt., Ky.
" B. F. SHEETS, Lieut.
" ISAAC TAYLOR, Lieut."
" WINCHESTER, KY., Nov. 17, 1862.
" COL. ATKINS : You are a stranger to me, but I like you for
your cause. I have labored in it, and suffered for it. I am not
negro crazy. The course of some of your Regiment, in regard
to slaves, has done us much harm, and, if persisted in, will do
more. You will personally get yourself into danger, all of which
I greatly regret. Just turn the slaves out of your camp don't
give them up to any one but turn them out. I ask this for the
sake of the cause. I have no interest in it beyond the purposes
expressed. You may find out who I am, if desired to, from any
one. Yours, &c., JOHN B. HUSTON."
EXHIBIT " F."
"(SUMMONS EXTRAORDINARY.)
" THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY.
" To the Sheriff of Fayette County Greeting :
" You are commanded to summon Smith D. Atkins to an-
swer on the 'first day of the next February term of the Fayette
Circuit Court, a petition filed against him in said Court by Wil-
liam Hickman, and warn him that, upon his failure to answer,
the petition will be taken for confessed, or he will be proceeded
against for contempt, and you will make due return of this sum-
mons, on the first day of the next February term of this Court.
" Witness, JOHN B. NORTON, Clerk of said Court, this iSthday
of November, 1862.
" Att. : JOHN B. NORTON, C. F. C. C."
56 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
" (ORDER FOR DELIVERY OF PROPERTY.)
" (Section 231.)
" WILLIAM HICKMAN, Plaintiff, )
against [ ORDER OF DELIVERY.
SMITH D. ATKINS, Defendant. )
" THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY.
" To the Sheriff of Fayette County : You are commanded to
take the slave Sylvester, about 38 years old, and of black com-
plexion, and of the value of Five Hundred Dollars, from the
possession of the Defendant, Smith D. Atkins, and deliver him
to the Plaintiff, William Hickman, upon his giving the Bond
required by law; and you will make due return of this Order on
the first day of the next February Term of the Fayette Circuit
Court.
" Witness, JOHN B. NORTON, Clerk of said Court, this i8th
day of November, 1862.
" JOHN B. NORTON, C. F. C. C."
It may be mentioned that the Sheriff did not find the slave
" Sylvester" in the possession of the Colonel ; and whether the
Court took the petition for " confessed," or proceeded against the
Colonel for " contempt," has never been known to any member
of the Ninety-Second. An examination of these exhibits reveals
the usual Kentucky swagger ; first, attempting to intimidate, and
afterward t an argumentative communication in writing. And
Mr. Huston, who liked the Colonel for his cause, could not write
him a letter without intimating to the Colonel that he was per-
sonally in danger.
On Sunday, the twenty-third of November, all the regiments
in General Baird's division were inspected and reviewed by
General Baird. On the twenty-sixth, the Regiment took up its
line of march, in a snow-storm, for Danville, and, after marching
seven miles, went into camp. It is a necessary rule in army life,
that at " taps" every light be extinguished in the men's quarters,
and perfect silence be maintained until " reveille" breaks the
stillness. In an army of forty thousand men, dead silence is
maintained, save the foot-fall of the line guards. On this night,
some of the soldiers were hilarious after " taps," but their prompt
arrest was the result. The march was resumed at daylight, and
the broad pike road wound around among the hills bordering the
Kentucky River, passing through the ancient hunting grounds of
Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky back-woodsman. A soldier
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 57
writes of this day's march: " At the Kentucky River, some of
the Western boys got a fair sight of mountain scenery for the
first time in their lives, and stood aghast, looking down over per-
pendicular rocks for hundreds of feet below, over and through
which the pike is cut, while upon the opposite side of the road it
was equally as wild ; and looming high up in the air stood the
sturdy pines and gentle cedars. For miles on this march, our
minds were relieved of the dull monotony of the ' route-step.'
Now we pass a great, high, cone-shaped mountain, around the
base of which we wind, until we have made two-thirds of its
circle. This mountain is celebrated as the place where Daniel
Boone tossed a ' Red-skin' heels over head off from the cliffs
into the great abyss below. Daniel did a good thing that time,
for which we will remember him. Pity that Daniel don't live
now to try his hand on a few of the Rebels who still infest these
hills. If the Rebels desired, or, rather, if they had the ' vim,'
our passage could have been disputed here for months, but they
' don't stay about as thick as they used to.' " Camp Dick Rob-
inson was the next point of interest. Here we found the first sad
havoc of war. The fences were gone, timber cut, houses de-
serted, and everything in confusion. The Rebels, in their flight,
left several pieces of artillery, all dismounted but one fine, brass,
Spanish six-pounder, which the Ninety-Second took charge of.
There were fifteen hundred stand of small arms, badly smashed
and cut into pieces; one thousand five hundred barrels of salt
pork, and many tents, and other things. Captain Dennis, with
Company B, was detailed to take charge of the plunder. The
Regiment pushed on through Danville to the Fair Grounds be-
yond. Here was found a guard of the o/jth Illinois Volunteers,
holding the grounds for a camp for that regiment. The Colonel
marched the Ninety Second in, and placed the men in one half
of the buildings and stables, reserving the other half for the 96th,
and invited the officers of that regiment to share with him his
head-quarters in the principal building. It was the first time the
regiments had met since the difficulty at Rockford ; but the thought-
ful courtesy of the Colonel healed the breach, and it was never
mentioned again by officer or soldier. The next day, both regi-
men's moved nearer the town, and camped side bv side. A sol-
dier, writing from camp, says: " Danville is the prettiest place
we have seen in Kentucky. It is famous for its churches, semi-
naries, and asylums, as well as for being the residence of the
celebrated Divine, Dr. Robert J. Breckenridge, General Boyle,
7
58 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS,
and Colonel Frey ; the latter being the individual who, through
his carelessness in handling a pistol, took the wind out of the
Rebel General Zollicoffer at Mill Spring. There is a strong
Union sentiment here plenty of" pretty Union girls, who are
polite and hospitable to the ' Yanks,' and the town is full of
Union wounded soldiers from the battle of Perryville, nearly all
the churches being occupied as hospitals. Lieutenant Colonel
Sheets is commanding the Regiment, Colonel Atkins being in
command of the Post, having, as a garrison, the Ninety-Second
Illinois, the 96th Illinois, and six hundred cavalry." Very strin-
gent orders relating to guard duty were issued. Captain Albert
Woodcock, of Company K, Ninety-Second Illinois Volunteers,
was detailed as Provost Marshal. A Kentucky lady came into
his head-quarters, and desired a pass for her servants to go outside
of the lines to obtain fuel. The Captain told her it would be
necessary for her first to take the Oath of Allegiance. She in-
dignantly declined, and swept out of the Captain's presence very
haughtily. A day or two afterward, she came again, saying she
was nearly out of fuel, and would take the oath, but that she was
a Rebel, and would not regard it. " Madam," said the Captain,
in his solemnly impressive tone, " 1 cannot administer the oath
to vou. According to your own statement, you would be com-
mitting perjury. I cannot permit so fine a lady to commit per-
jury in my presence, and imperil her immortal soul." The
Captain's impressive tone, stern morality, and unanswerable
logic, astonished the Kentucky matron, and she withdrew in con-
sternation. A few days afterward she again appeared, contrite
and in tears, and declared she was freezing for want of fuel. The
Captain explained the Oath of Allegiance to her, and said that, if
she took it at all, it must be of her own free will, without evasion
or mental reservation, when she subscribed her name, and swore
by " the ever-living God" to maintain her allegiance to the United
States. On another occasion, an old, gray-haired, colored man
applied to Captain Woodcock for a pass; but the Captain had pre-
viously been informed that the colored man himself was a
slaveholder and a Rebel. He was a free negro, and free negroes
sometimes owned slaves in Kentucky. So the Captain told *him
that he must first establish his loyalty. The old, colored man
took off his hat, and took out a copy of the New York Tribune,
and said: "For twelve years I have been a subscriber to that
paper. Would any but a loyal man take the New York Tri-
bune?" The Captain was convinced of his loyalty; and the old.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 59
gray-haired subscriber to the New York Tribune obtained the
desired pass. The weather was very cold and changeable, alter-
nating rapidly between snow, rain, and sunshine, and the morning
sick call brought crowds upon crowds to the surgeons. One of
the large seminary buildings in the town was taken as a regi-
mental hospital,and every attention bestowed upon the sick that was
possible; but deaths were frequent. Colonel Sheets drilled the
Regiment whenever the weather would permit of it ; and one of
the soldiers, in his diary, writes : " He is getting to be a splendid
drill-master." On the seventh of December, it was so cold that
ice was frozen on the creek so solid that nearly all the Regi-
ment went sliding, with merry shouts, like a district school let
out. One of the boys' diaries says, " But it is rather cold lying
on the ground, with a little straw for a bed, and a slimpsy army
blanket for a cover, and one thickness of cotton cloth for a house."
-
It was Sabbath; and at two o'clock P. M., the Rev. Dr. Robert J.
Breckenridge preached a sermon on the camp ground. The
ninth was a beautiful day, and hundreds of ladies and gentlemen
visited the camp at dress parade. On the tenth, a slave auction
was held near the camp, and five slaves were sold under the ham-
mer, a very strange sight to most of the men. On the eleventh,
two more regiments of infantry arrived ; and on the thirteenth,
two more regiments of infantry and a battery arrived, accompa-
nied by General Baird, who assumed command of the Post. On
Sunday, the fourteenth, a negro preacher held services on the
camp grounds. In the afternoon, Company I was marching
through the town, accompanying to its last resting-place the re-
mains of one of their comrades, when a bevy of SeCesh women
made insulting remarks as the funeral cortege passed. It was
reported to General Baird, who promptly turned the family into
the street, and bccupied their residence as his head-quarters. A
storm of sleet and snow set in, and continued for several days.
The men resorted to all sorts of contrivances to make their cot-
ton houses comfortable. A favorite plan was to remove the earth
from the inside of the tent to the depth of three feet, piling the
removed earth around the tent on the outside; a fire-place was
tht-n constructed in the earth wall, just bevond the line of the
tent, and on the earth outside a rude chimney was constructed of
empty barrels or cracker boxes reaching above the top of the tent;
they were constructed with great skill, and usually had a good
draft, and a cheerful fire blazed and crackled in the earthen fire-
places. It was a pleasing sight to step down into one of the tents
60 NINRTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
in the evening, room enough to stand erect, arms, and belts, and
cartridge boxes, on racks around the center pole, the floor covered
with clean straw, the cheerful fire blazing, and the men laying
around on their blankets', with bayonets stuck into the ground for
candle-sticks; some of the men reading, some writing letters
home, some playing chess, or backgammon, or whist. But it was
fatal to health. The men were packed in the tents like herrings
in a box. At night, when the tent flap was closed, and the fire
had gone out, the warm, ascending breath from the sleeping sol-
diers struck the ice-cold cotton cloth, wet with dew and perfectly
air-tight, and back to the bottom of the tent would go the car-
bonic acid to be breathed over and over again, and poison the
sleepers with disease. The Colonel, directed the openings in the
top of the tents to be always kept open, in order to give ventila-
tion ; but that made the tent cold, and the soldiers would close
them up, and shut off every chance of fresh air. Removing the
earth and lowering the bottom of the tents were prohibited in
orders, but not in fact. Wood was brought from the wood-lots in
the surrounding country. Lieutenant Cox was detailed to go out
some six miles on the Stanford pike, with fifteen army wagons
and a squad of men, to chop wood. He was told that he would
find a large house on the right of the pike, with a large gate cov-
ered bv an arch, and to turn in there. He was not, as he ought
to have been, particularly instructed to go to the wood-lot a half
mile in rear of the house. He found the gate and turned in, and
his wood-choppers fell to work cutting down the beautiful oaks
adorning the lawn in front of the mansion. The matron was
amazed to see her lawn trees fall before the axes of the Yankee
vandals, and hastily despatched a servant to inform the Colonel,
and beg him to take wood from the woods, and not from the
door-yard. Orders were sent to the Lieutenant, but they reached
him too late; his wagons were loaded with wood from the finest
shade trees on the lawn. It was an accident; but as the owner
was supposed to be a Rebel, no one seriously mourned over it.
On the twenty-fourth, Captain Dunham, of Company F, topo-
graphical officer on General Baird's staff, was out examining and
mapping the country, with a party of six men, and they were
fired upon by a squad of roving Johnnies. Christmas was cele-
brated by a cessation of all ordinary camp duties; many of the
officers and men were invited out to dine by the Union ladies of
Danville. Rank never counted for anything in the Ninety-
" Second, except on duty. A single company had twenty mem-
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 61
bers who were graduates of high institutions of learning. Many
private soldiers of the Regiment had polished manners in the
drawing-room, and could hold their own in conversation with the
best blue bloods of Kentucky. They were always welcome to
the residence of the Reverend Doctor Breckenridge, and he never
took any note of rank in his visitors. Many of the members of
the Regiment were members, of churches, in regular standing at
home, and they especially were welcomed heartily in their calls
on Dr. Breckenridge. They did not leave their religion at home
when they went into the army; they "kept the faith," and, by the
example of their daily walk and conversation, testified to the
beauty of true Christianity. The afternoon 1 was celebrated in
camp by a grand game of town-ball. It rained during the night.
The next morning, the entire command at Danville, under
the command of General Gordon Granger, who had come from
Lexington to win glory, started on the tramp after John Morgan's
dashing Rebel rovers, who were supposed to be marching on
Lebanon. The Regiment marched at seven o'clock in the morn-
ing on the Lebanon pike ; the cold, winter rain poured in torrents ;
John Morgan and his Rebel raiders were mounted on fleet steeds,
and so was General Gordon Granger and his gorgeous staff ; on
and on through the pouring rain the division marched, with never
a halt for rest, and the Ninety-Second kept its place in the col-
umn. Eight o'clock, nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock,
twelve o'clock, and one o'clock passed, and no halt for breath;
the weak men were falling down by sheer exhaustion ; the ambu-
lances already overloaded, and the column kept on, leaving the
exhausted men by the roadside, in a storm of rain and sleet that
froze as it fell. The medical officers came to the head of the
Regiment, and begged the Colonel to halt for a little while, to
give the exhausted men a chance to rally. But on and on the
Regiment swept. The Colonel, as well as Gordon Granger, was
on horseback. It is not very hard work to ride a fine horse,
booted and spurred, even in a storm, with rubber poncho and
leggins, and meerschaum pipe. That is the way the Colonel was
fixed. Again and again the medical officers begged for only a
short halt, just a breathing spell, but the Colonel said, " -
- it, I have no order to halt." Colonel Cochran, of the i4th
Kentucky, was commanding the brigade; his regiment were old
soldiers, accustomed to the march ; his was among the regiments
that garrisoned Cumberland Gap, and had astonished the mem-
bers of the Ninety-Second when they came, ragged and dust-
62 NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
covered, weary and foot-sore, to Covington, Kentucky. On and
on, through the storm, the black stallion of the Colonel kept his
course, and the Regiment tried hard to keep up. Never a man
fell out that could take one step more. But, by and by, in the
middle of the afternoon, when the Colonel, by some sort of an
accident, happened to look back, and see how few of his Regi-
ment were staggering along behind him, he ordered a halt.
Never was a Colonel more heartily " cussed," and he deserved it
too. The Army Regulations provide for frequent rests on the
march, and the men of the Ninety-Second had probably read the
Army Regulations oftener than the Colonel, and just at that mo-
ment they would have liked to have heard the Colonel explain
the violation of the United States Army Regulations on that
march. But the word " halt" was no sooner called than a staff
officer of Colonel Cochran came riding back, with an order to the
Colonel to " close up." If the Colonel of the Ninety-Second
ever swore at anybody, he let fly a few hard words at that staff
officer. But there is a sort of impression prevailing among some
of the members of the Ninety-Second, confined strictly to those
who always were in hospital, or on detached duty, and who never
served with the command, that the Colonel never knew how to
swear. There was a break in the column. After a short rest,
the Ninety-Second resumed the march. After that, there were
occasional breathing spells. It was almost dark, when the head of
the Regiment reached the brick house where Colonel Cochran
and General Granger had established head-quarters, and the
Ninety-Second was ordered into a plowed field, where the men
sank, at every step, over their ankles, in the mud; and just as
the men were closing up, preparatory to the order to stack arms,
Colonel Cochran came out of the house, and said to the Colonel
that no rails must be burned, the wagons must be unloaded, and
details made to go to the wood-lot, a mile away, on the hill, and
get fuel. The balance of the division was camped all around, and
not a fence had yet been touched. The Colonel was sitting on
his horse, and as the Regiment closed up and stacked arms, while
Colonel Cochran was still standing in hearing, he said : " Men
of the Ninety-Second, do you see those rail fences? Cook your
suppers with them." There was silence for a little while ; and
Colonel Cochran said to the Colonel, " This farm belongs to a
Union man; I shall have to report you to General Granger."
"All right; tell General Granger that my men are not responsi-
ble; I assume all of the responsibility." The Ninety-Second
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 63
" went for'' those rails, and so did the whole division. They were
only waiting for an example, and the Ninety-Second furnished it;
but the men had to work lively to get rails enough to cook their
suppers-. The Regiment lav encamped not far from Lebanon.
At twelve o'clock, the Regiment was called up, with orders to
push out, at three o'clock A. M., to Lebanon, in advance of the
division; but the order was countermanded, and the Regiment
did not march until seven A. M., when it returned to Danville,
with the balance of the division. When the Regiment marched
from Danville, the barrels and cracker boxes used for chimneys,
and the boards for tent floors, bunks, and walks through the
grounds, had been burned up. When the Regiment camped in
Danville, on the same ground they had left, the Colonel formed
the line, and congratulated the men of the Regiment that they
had .again returned to their old camp, and the boards, cracker
boxes, barrels, and everything else they had gathered with so
much pains to make camp-life comfortable, were still at their ser-
vice. The men saw the point, and sorrowfully went into camp,
minus straw, barrels, cracker-boxes, board floors, bunks, walks,
and everything else that fire could consume. The next morning,
the sick-call took nearly all the Regiment that was left. Dr.
Winston had charge of the largest building, used as a hospital for
the Ninety-Second at Danville, and every nook and corner was
filled, after this senseless and heedless march. Never did physi-
cians attend the sick more faithfully than did Doctors
Winston, Helm, and Stephenson, and the faithful " Daughters of
the Regiment ;" but the skill of man was not able to stay the
hand of death. This march, so utterly futile, and wholly without
results, cost the Regiment fifty lives. Nine out of ten of the
graduates of West Point do not possess as much common sense
as the most illiterate eighth corporal of volunteers, and Gordon
Granger was not the tenth exception. If he had comfortable
quarters, plenty of wine, and other enjoyments, he apparently
cared very little for the comfort of the men in his command.
The next day was Sabbath ; but the men were too weary for
preaching or dress parade, which were seldom omitted on Sunday.
On the thirtieth, Major Bohn, of the Ninety-Second, with
Company A, and five companies from the other regiments, and a
battery of artillery, went to Hickman Bridge, over the Kentucky
River, fifteen miles north of Danville, to guard the bridge from
being burned by John Morgan's Rebel cavalry, and marched in a
cold rain-storm, and did not return until the third of January.
64 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
During the year 1862, the Regiment marched seven hundred and
seventy miles.
January first, 1863, was a bright, sunny day. It was cele-
brated by big dinners and various sports in camp. The Colonel
was serenaded, and said he wished the Ninety-Second could be
mounted and sent after Morgan. On the fifth, good news from
General Rosecrans, at Stone River, made the camp lively with
cheers. On the eighth, the Regiment was paid up to October 31,
1862. On the tenth, some of the line officers celebrated their
first pay-day by buying cigars and apples for the men of their com-
panies. On Sunday, the eleventh, there was no preaching in
camp; Chaplain O. D. W. White had resigned on account of ill-
ness. Many citizens from Illinois were visiting camp. Hon.
Joshua White and Capt. H. Weld, of Ogle County, were in
Danville on the twelfth. On the thirteenth, camp was moved
about a mile to new grounds and the Regiment went into camp
in a blinding snow-storm. Colonel J. C. Cochran, of the I4th
Kentucky, having resigned, Colonel Atkins assumed command of
the brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Sheets of the Regiment.
The snow was four inches deep, and heavy details were made to
chop wood for the various hospitals. A soldier writes in his diary,
on the eighteenth: "I heard Colonel Atkins repremanding a
Kentucky teamster to-day for abusing his mules. Said the Colo-
nel, ' My man, you ought to use discretion when you are driving
mules.' The Kentuckian didn't know what ' discretion' was, and
artlessly replied : ' I would, Colonel, but I hain't got any.' "
The soldier was not punished. On the twenty-first, Captain
William Stouffer, of Company C, died of typhoid fever. He was
a generous-hearted, noble man, and the Regiment deeply felt his
loss. Lieutenant Hawk, of Companv C, was promoted to be
Captain, and Second Lieutenant Norman Lewis promoted to First
Lieutenant, and Sergeant George P. Sutton promoted to Second
Lieutenant; Lieutenant E. F. Bauder, of Company B, having re-
signed, on the recommendation of Captain William W. Den-
nis, and with the advice and consent of all the field and staff offi-
cers, Miles B. Light, of Company D, was promoted to be Second
Lieutenant of Companv B. Some weeks afterward, Captain
Wilber W. Dennis resigned, leaving Companv B \vithout its com-
pliment of officers; when Lieutenant Horace J. Smith, of Com-
pany K, was commissioned Captain of Company B. The men
of Company B were very justly indignant at the promotion of
men in other companies to command them. There was plenty
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 65
of good material for officers in Company B; but the field officers
of the Regiment did not learn of the excellent qualities of many
of the members of Company B until afterward. The promotions
for Company B were made with the best of motives ; and the men
of that company, while feeling the sting, conducted themselves
like the splendid soldiers they were, and yielded obedience to
their new officers. They soon learned to respect and love their
new Captain, Horace J. Smith, who was promoted against his
own wishes. He did not seek the place, but he filled it ably.
The weather was fine on the twenty-fourth, and Colonel Sheets
had the Regiment out on battalion drill for the first time in a
month. On Sunday, orders came to march; and on Monday, the
Regiment, with the brigade, marched at six A. M., on the Har-
rodsburg pike, passing through Harrodsburg about noon, and
marched seventeen miles and camped. The next day, the Regi-
ment marched through rain and snow, and camped three miles
north of Lawrenceburg^ Marched at daylight on the twenty-
eighth, the ground covered with snow; passed through Clayville,
and about eight miles south of Frankfort; made sixteen
miles, and camped at three o'clock P. M. Marched at day-
light,* passing through Shelbyville, sixteen miles, and camped.
Marched early and camped at two P. M., three miles south of
Louisville, Kentucky, on the Shelbyville pike. On the thirty-first
of January, the Regiment marched through Louisville, in col-
umn of platoons, and while passing the Gault House, a Kentuck-
ian stepped in between the platoons and grabbed hold of a col-
ored servant marching there, when a soldier clubbed his musket
and tapped the Kentuckian on his skull, letting out his brains.
Not a word was spoken, not a soldier broke step, but the Regi-
ment moved steadily along. The Sheriff of Louisville, with a
hundred special policemen, stood upon the sidewalk. They
intended to have taken the colored servants out of the Regiment.
The quiet but effective reception given to the man who made the
first attempt, deterred the others. The Regiment marched to
the Ohio River, and embarked on the steamers Tempest and
Arizonia. The work of embarkation was not a slight one; the
wagons were all taken apart, and stowed away between decks.
It was not till late the next' day, that the brigade was all aboard.
Mrs. Colonel Sheets, Mrs. Captain Woodcock, Mrs. Major Bohn,
Mrs. Dr. Helm, and many citizens from Ogle, Stephenson,
and Carroll Counties, visited the Regiment. The 14111 Ken-
tucky Infantry, Colonel Cochran's old regiment, was detached,
66 NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and remained in " loyal Kentucky." The Colonel of the Ninety-
Second was complimented with more suits for stealing negroes.
Gordon Granger ordered every colored man to be left in Ken-
tucky, and the police were ready to nab any colored man they
could. The order of Granger was, by most of the line officers,
thought to mean negroes who had no right to accompany the
troops, and not to refer to officers' servants regularly employed,
and very few negroes left the Ninetv-Second on account ot
Granger's order. At eleven o'clock P. M., as the moon rose, the
fleet of six steamers, carrying Colonel Atkins' brigade, quietly
dropped down the Ohio River, every one in the Ninetv-Second
happy at the thought of getting outside of " loyal Kentucky."
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 67
CHAPTER III.
DOWN THE OHIO UP THE CUMBERLAND FORT DONELSON
NASHVILLE RESOLUTIONS MARCH TO FRANKLIN OF-
FERING BATTLE TO VAN DORN BRKNTWOOD BACK TO
FRANKLIN THE NEW CHAPLAIN-^-MARCH TO TRIUNE
FORREST'S ATTACK ON TRIUNE SHELBYVILLE THE COLO-
NEL'S APPLICATION TO BE DETACHED FROM THE RESERVE
CORPS WARTRACE ; THE REGIMENT MOUNTED, AND AS-
SIGNED TO WILDER'S BRIGADE OF MOUNTED INFANTRY
CAMPING AT DECHF.RD.
A steamboat journey on the Ohio River is generally antici-
pated with pleasure. In summer time, a cabin passage in a
floating palace down the Ohio, surrounded with genial com-
panions, and books, and music; sweeping bv inlands, and forests,
and farms; noting the eager crowds, who come and go at
every landing, forms, together, a journey full of pleasure and
enjoyment. The moving of troops by steamer in mid winter, is
altogether a different thing. It is not very hard for the officers,
who are comfortably quartered in the cabins and staterooms, but
the men suffer. All of the available space below hatches is filled
bv taking the wagons and ambulances apart, and packing them,
with everything movable, as closely as possible; if there is any
space left it is assigned to a company as " quarters," where the
men can spread their blankets and pack themselves in as closelv
as the living cargoes of African slaves were once transported.
On the bows, in front of the boilers, the artillery is " parked,"
with the artillery horses tied to the railing as thick as they can
stand, while all the available space on the boiler deck is used for
the officers' horses and mules of the transportation trains. The
men are quartered all over the vessel, from the texas to the va-
cant space under the boilers, wherever a soldier can lie down
without being trampled bv a mule or a horse. By orders of the
Brigade Commander, the officers were directed to^put the sick
accompanving the Regiment into the unoccupied staterooms, and
68 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
at night to cover the cabin floors with the weakest men, to whom
commanders of companies were to furnish written permits, and
in the day time to fill the cabins by reliefs; no well soldier to be
permitted to remain longer than an hour at one time, but to make
room for those outside. It was very cold on the 'morning of
February second, 1863, as the boats bearing the Regiment
steamed downed the Ohio. To sleep in the open air was out of
the question, and to keep warm in the cutting wind and piercing
storm required constant exercise. Shortly after daylight, a
landing was made upon an island, and the men went ashore to
cook three days' rations. As soon as the cooking was over, the
journev was continued down the river. At night the steamers
coaled at Evansville. *The weather continued very cold and
windy. A soldier, in his diary, writes under date of February
third : " This morning was so cold that the boys suffered
greatly ; not a shoulder-strap was to be seen outside of the cabin
until late in the morning, and then the gay officer would shiver
and run in again, like a rat runs into a hole when a cat makes an
unsuccessful leap at him." At five o'clock P. M., the boats landed
at Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River, where the
artillery-firing at Fort Donelson was heard. Here the brigade
was to await the arrival of the corps; but the rumble of artillery
at Fort Donelson beckoned the brigade on ; and without orders,
except from the Brigade Commander, the six steamers continued
up the Cumberland, running slowly, and at eight o'clock the next
morning were within a few miles of the Fort. There was no
firing heard; it was evident that the battle was ended; but how it
had ended was not known. Caution had to be observed ; if the
Rebels held the Fort, it would not do to steam up to the landing.
Horsemen were observed in. the woods on the right bank of the
river, and the steamers landed. The Ninety-Second was quickly
on shore, and deployed in line of battle. Men were sent to
a house some distance up the river, and information obtained
that our forces still held the Fort, and that the enemy had
retired from the conflict. The Regiment returned to the boats,
and the brigade steamed up the river, reaching Fort Donelson at
eleven o'clock. The Rebel Generals Forrest and Wheeler, with
about eight thousand men, had, at one o'clock P. M. of the day
before, made a desperate assault upon nine companies of the 83d
Illinois Volunteers, and Company C, 2d Illinois Artillery, under
Colonel A. C. Harding, and kept up the battle till half-past eight
P. M., when the Rebels withdrew, with a loss of eight hundred
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 69
killed and wounded. The ground around the little village of
Dover was strewn with the dead, lying as they fell ; and for the first
time, the soldiers of the Ninety-Second looked upon the horror
of a battle- field after the carnage was ended. Not quite a year
before, the Commander of the Brigade was there as Captain of
Company A, nth Illinois Volunteers; and, after dinner, accom-
panied bv some of the members of his staff, he rode out to the
long grave of the nth Illinois, nearly two miles from the land-
ing; and while they sat upon their horses, with uncovered heads,
by the grave of the Eleventh, in a light snow-storm, such as had
prevailed at the time when the men who lay buried there had
fallen a year before, the rear guard of Wheeler and Forrest's Rebel
cavalry sent a few leaden messages over the party. It was a
remarkable incident that an officer of the nth Regiment, almost
a year after the first battle of Fort Donelson, on returning to the
battle-field, should find the ground covered with the freshly slain
unburied dead, and by the grave of his slain comrades in the
battle of nearly a year before, should listen to the rattle of Rebel
musketry. The next day the steamers lay at the landing, without
disembarking the troops, awaiting the arrival of General Gran-
ger's corps, which came up during the day and night ; and the
next day at noon, the entire fleet, of about sixty steamers, con-
voyed by several gun-boats, resumed the march to Nashville.
Before reaching Clarksville, where the iron railroad bridge had
been destroyed, leaving portions of the iron-work hanging to the
piers and into the river, somewhat obstructing the passage, Lieu-
tenant A. M. York, of the Ninety-Second, heard the Captain of
the steamer Tempest, in conversation with one of his pilots, pre-
dicting a disaster at the bridge ; and the Lieutenant believed that
it was the intention of the captain and pilot, who were Rebel
sympathizers, deliberately to wreck the steamer Tempest, and
the steamer Arizonia lashed to its side, on which the Ninety-
Second was being transported. He was therefore directed, by
the Brigade Commander, to take a file of soldiers, let them load
their guns, place the same pilot at the wheel, and the captain by
the pilot-house, and inform them that, if any accident happened
at the Clarksville Bridge, he was directed to shoot them both.
Lieutenant York did as he was commanded, and there was no
accident. The fleet of steamers and gun-boats moved slowly,
and did not arrive at Nashville until nearly night on the seventh
of February. The Regiment had marched eighty miles by land,
from Danville, Kentucky, to Louisville, Kentucky, and four
70 NINETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
hundred and twenty miles by steamer, and occupied, in the march
from the morning of January twenty-sixth to the evening of
February seventh, thirteen days, at an immense expense to the
Government for steamboats and gun-boats, and the additional
expense of creating much sickness among the men and animals,
by their exposure to winter travel by steamers. From Danville
to Nashville, over good roads, it is but one hundred and seventv
miles; and in the same length of time, by easy marches of less
than fourteen miles a day, the command could have been placed
in Nashville, with the health of the men improved by the march,
and hundreds of thousands of dollars saved to the Government.
A volunteer corporal would have marched the command directly
from Danville to Nashville ; and why it was not done, is one of
those things which are not explainable by the ordinary rules of
common sense. The next day, Sabbath, the Regiment disem-
barked, marched through the city of Nashville, and three miles
south, on the Franklin pike, and went into camp in an old field,
where the mud was horrible in rainy weather, and it rained nearly
all of the time the Regiment remained there. On the fourteenth,
Lieutenant John Gishwiller, of Company G, resigned on account
of disability. On the sixteenth, Lieutenant Crowell, of Com-
panv B, resigned, and Sergeant Henry C. Cooling was promoted
to First Lieutenant. On the seventeenth, the entire Regiment
went into the woods to chop fire-wood, the rails being " ousga-
sphield." A large mail, from "God's country," came to the Regi-
ment. On the twenty-first, Colonel John Coburn's brigade
inarched to Franklin. February twenty-second, the forts about
Nashville fired cannon in honor of the memory of Washington.
Captain James Brice, of Company H, resigned on account of
illness, and Lieutenant John F. Nelson was promoted to Captain.
William McCammons, Sergeant of Company G, was promoted
to Lieutenant. On the twenty-fourth, the weather was beautiful,
and there was a review and inspection. On the twenty-fifth, it
rained; the tents were getting old and leakv ; the Lieutenant,
Colonel, and Major, " tenting together on the old camp ground,"
were wet as drowned rats in their quarters. On the twenty-sixth,
news was received in camp, that Congress had authorized Presi-
dent Lincoln to call out additional troops. The papers from the
North, received in camp, and eagerly read, had kept the members
of the. Regiment fully informed regarding the opposition made to
the war by the peace-sneaks at home; and on this day, a meeting
was held by the commissioned officers of the Ninety-Second.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 71
Captain Albert Woodcock, of Company K, was called to the
Chair, and Lieutenant George R. Skinner, of Company D, Act-
ing Adjutant of the Regiment, was elected Secretary. On
motion, the following named officers were elected as a committee
to draft resolutions, setting forth the views of the officers and
members of the Regiment upon the policy of the Administration,
and the conduct of the copperheads and traitors at the North :
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin F. Sheets; Captains Lyman Pres-
ton, Mathew Van Buskirk, Egbert T. E. Becker, John M. Scher-
merhorn, John F. Nelson, Robert M. A. Hawk, Horace J. Smith,
Harvey M. Timms, and Lieutenant Horace C. Scoville, who
reported tyie following preamble and resolutions, which were
unanimously adopted by the officers; and, upon being read to
each company upon its company parade ground, were adopted,
with but three dissenting voices in the entire Regiment:
" CAMP OF THE NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS, )
" Near Nashville, Tenn., February 26th, 1863. f
" WHEREAS, We, the officers and members of the Ninety-
Second Regiment Illinois Volunteers, have left our >homes, our
farms, our work-shops, and all our peaceful avocations, and have
taken up arms in the defense of our country, now threatened by
tyrannical and treacherous foes, who are endeavoring to rend in
twain our once peaceful and happy nation; and
" WHEREAS, Certain unprincipled individuals and factions
have arisen at the North, who, by words and by acts, are daily
aiding and giving comfort to our enemies, by bitterly opposing
our Chief Executive, by clogging the wheels of legislation, by
encouraging our enemies, by discouraging our friends, and, in
general, using every effort to oppose any and all measures,
whether Executive, Legislative, or Judicial, which look to the
speedy and happy termination of the present Rebellion ;
therefore,
" Resolved, i. That we, as a Regiment, and as individuals,
hold all such persons in the light of enemies enemies to our
cause enemies to our country and justly deserving the condem-
nation of all true and loyal citizens.
" Resolved, 2. That any person who will not, in this hour of
his country's trial and peril, lend every nerve, use every effort,
and, lastly, sacrifice his verv life, if needs be, on his country's
altar, is undeserving the friendship and support of the members
of the Ninety-Second Regiment of Illinois Volunteers.
" Resolved, 3. That words cannot express the bitter contempt
72 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and detestation, in which we hold traitors to this Govern-
ment the best the sun ever shone upon wherever thev may be
found, and under whatever name thev may assume to hide their
hellish purposes.
" Resolved, 4. That we are opposed to all secret organizations,
organized for any political purpose, believing it to be an unmanly
way of gaining political power, subversive of Constitutional
Liberty, and in which injustice may be done, as witness the past.
" Resolved, 5. That a traitor has no rights which this Gov-
ernment is bound to respect, no matter where he resides ; that
copperheads at the North are but a revised edition of traitors at
the South, and that we most earnestly request our friends at home
to mark them for future reference shoot them, if need be, and
write over their graves, ' Here lies a cowardly traitor to his
country, rejected of God, and despised of honest men.'
" Resolved, 6. That we fully and unequivocally endorse the
Administration (Emancipation Proclamation included), in any
and all efforts to suppress this unholy Rebellion, and are deter-
mined that ' Butternuts, 1 either North or South, be brought to
speedy justice, ' that hemp be not created in vain, and that fire
and brimstone be not defrauded.'
" Resolved, 7. That we heartily endorse the acts of Hon.
Richard Yates, our Governor, and return him our sincere thanks
for his noble efforts in behalf of Illinois soldiers.
" ALBERT WOODCOCK, Chairman.
" GEORGE R. SKINNER, Secretary"
On the twenty-eighth of February, the Regiment was mus-
tered for pay. On the first of March, all the regiments in the
brigade having adopted resolutions of a similar import to those
adopted by the Ninety-Second, a brigade dress parade was held
in the afternoon ; after which each regiment was formed in col-
umn doubled on the center, and the brigade closed in mass;
when Colonel Atkins, the Brigade Commander, made the men
and officers an address, which he had previously been invited to
do. There was cheering for Governors Yates, of Illinois, Todd,
of Ohio, and Morton, of Indiana, and for President Lincoln and
the old flag.
Artillery-firing was heard on the fifth of March, in the direc-
tion of Franklin. Orders soon came lo be ready at a moment's
notice to march in light marching order, and the command was
ready at eleven A. M., and patiently waited, while the roar of
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 73
artillery was almost continuous until six P. M., when cars came,
and the Regiment, with the brigade, piled into and on top of the
cattle cars. In an old letter written b\' a soldier, and dated at
Franklin, March sixth; we find the following: "We left our
camp near Nashville, last evening at six P. M., for this point, by
rail, in light marching order, leaving tents, horses, knapsacks,
baggage, and everything else, except one day's ' hardtack', and
arms and ammunition, behind. The miserable old cars and
crazy engine were just five hours in getting us here, a distance of
seventeen miles. Our brigade had the good fortune to be dumped
down into a muddy corn-field, with no wood, shelter, or anything,
and the men and officers lay down in the cold mud, with a blanket
for cover, and the wind and rain pelting us from eleven o'clock
P. M. until daylight. In military parlance this is called ' bivou-
acing.' Call it what you please, our boys think it pretty rough,
but stand it unmurmeringlv. All day long we have been stand-
ing in the muddy corn-field, with no shelter, and the rain pouring
down heavily. Only think of eight thousand men packed into
close quarters in a corn-field in the pelting rain, and their con-
tinuous tramping, and, my word for it, there will be some mud.
Yesterday Colonel Coburn's brigade, about twenty-five hundred
strong, all that were fit for duty, were sent out toward Spring
Hill, and left all day unsupported, fighting about eighteen thou-
sand Rebels under Van Dorn, Forrest, and Wheeler. Coburn's
brigade made a gallant fight; but, surrounded and left alone, with
such terrible odds against them, were at last compelled to surren-
der, onl}' a few making their escape, and returning to Franklin.
Some one blundered, and it was not Coburn." The rain con-
tinued without ceasing; but in the afternoon of the sixth, the
tents and baggage of the Regiment came up, and the men were
more comfortable. The troops at Franklin held the right of
Rosecrans' armv. We were twenty-one miles south of Nash-
ville, and eighteen west of Murfresboro. Orders came to the
Regiment to keep constantly on hand three days' cooked rations.
Franklin was a Rebel town ; and it was reported in camp that the
Rebel citizens had sent word to Van Dorn, Wheeler, and Forrest,
to come into Franklin tor supper on the sixth. Bui the Rebel
Generals did not like the company that had forced itself upon the
people of Franklin, and did not accept of the invitation of the
citizens to take supper in that town. On the seventh, the rail-
road bridge across the Harpeth River was completed. On the
eighth, many troops, cavalry and infantry, including Sheridan's
74 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
division, arrived and reported to General Gordon Granger. On
the ninth, all of the troops at Franklin, under the command of
Gordon Granger, marched southward on the Columbia pike, the
cavalry skirmishing lightly with the enemy, who fell back before
our advance, and the Regiment bivouaced one and a half miles
south of Spring Hill ; moved the next day at noon to Rutherford
Creek, seven miles south of Spring Hill, and went into camp
after dark. Remained in camp all the next day, the Rebels ap-
pearing in considerable force about noon, on the opposite side of
the creek, and, for an hour, shelled the Regiment, without doing
any injury. Our brigade battery shelled a column of the enemy's
cavalry marching on the other side of the stream. It cleared up
at noon. The cavalry followed the enemv to Duck River, at
Columbia. Duck River was at flood tide with heavy rains, and
no bridge, and the independent corporals of volunteers, who did
their own thinking, never doubted that Gordon Granger, who
commanded a column three times the force of the enemy north
of the river, by energetic work, might have compelled the enemy
to accept battle, and have killed, drowned or captured the entire
Rebel force. Moved back to Franklin the next morning, Gene-
ral Sheridan's division taking the lead, his corps of trumpeters
making the echoes ring as he marched out. His troops marched
like quarter horses, and made no halt until they reached camp at
Franklin, and the Ninety-Second bowled along nineteen miles
in six hours, without a halt, keeping up with the column. The
troops wondered why in the world Granger was in such a hurry
to get back to Franklin, when he had uselesslv consumed so
much time in marching out. Just before reaching Franklin, a
squad of Rebel cavalry fired on the rear guard, and the Regiment
was halted, and put into line of battle; but the enemy not appear-
ing in force, the Regiment crossed the Harpeth, and went into
camp. Oscar Taylor, Esq., of Freeport, the law-partner of the
Colonel of the Ninety-Second, and brother of the Chief Quar-
termaster of the Army of the Cumberland, visited the Regiment.
The next day the order to keep three days' cooked rations on
hand was renewed. On the fourteenth, the troops of Franklin
were reviewed by General Gordon Granger. On Sunday, the
fifteenth, the Regiment listened to a sermon by a private soldier
of Company E; and a soldier, in his diarv, writes: "I would
give more to hear him pi each, although he gets but thirteen dol-
lars per month, than I would to hear Chaplain White, who gets
a hundred dollars a month." Contrabands had been at work
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 75
building a fort on the north side of the Harpeth ; but, by order of
General Granger, heavy details of soldiers were made for that
purpose. On the seventeenth, a line guard was put around the
Regiment, to the great disgust of the men. A few unruly sol-
diers made it necessary to guard the entire Regiment. Heavy
siege guns were mounted on the fort at Franklin. Lieutenant
David B. Colehour, of Company I, died in hospital at Nashville.
He was an excellent officer, and his loss was deeply felt by his
comrades. On the twentieth, the Regiment, an hour before day-
light, marched over the Harpeth to the south of the town of
Franklin, and remained thirty hours on picket, the picket line
extending entirely around the town, from river bank above to
river bank below. An hour before daylight the next morning,
another regiment marched out to the reserve post, at an old cot-
ton gin and press south of the town, so that there were two full
regiments on picket at daylight: after daylight the Ninety-Second
returned to camp. On Sunday, the twenty-second, Company A
received large boxes of good things to eat and to wear from home.
Sergeant Samuel L. Bailey, of Company H, was promoted to
Lieutenant. There was brigade dress parade. On Monday
morning, the pickets were fired on, and the Regiment was in line
an hour before daylight. The first regimental drill since leaving
Nashville took place. On the twenty-fifth, firing was heard in
the direction of Nashville before daylight, and the Regiment was
soon in line of battle, with faces toward home. And there they
stood in the peach orchard, listening to an occasional gun at"
Brentwood, eight miles away, until long after daylight, when
orders came to march. From an old letter written by a soldier
of the Ninety-Second, we extract the following: " There we
waited until the cavalry, under command of Brigadier General
Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, took the road didn't the bu-
gles blow though, and didn't they go helter-skelter out on the
pike, with sabers jingling! After the capture of Colonel Co-
burn, at Spring Hill, the debris of his brigade, convalescents,
teamsters, etc., about three hundred men, had been sent to Brent-
wood, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Bloodgood, of
the 22d Wisconsin, and had not been there many days, when
Van Dorn sent a column of cavalry from Spring Hill, crossing the
Harpeth on the Granny White pike road west of Franklin, and
made an attack on Brentwood just before daylight; and Lieuten-
ant Colonel Bloodgood surrendered without losing a man, or
scarcely firing a shot. A few of his men, in a stockade at a rail-
76 NINETr-SECOND ILLINOIS.
road bridge, held out until Van Dorn planted his artillery and
fired a few shots, when they surrendered also. It was while the
Rebel artillery was firing that the Regiment got into line of
battle at Franklin. General Green Clay Smith and his chargers
found a Rebel picket at Hollow Tree Gap, and fooled around
waiting until the infantry came up from Franklin, and until Van
Dorn's column, with all their prisoners and plunder, was well on
its way to Spring Hill by the road it came. And then, when the
Rebel picket at Hollow Tree Gap had voluntarily retired, the
cavalry followed up their rear guard, skirmishing occasionally ;
and the Kentucky newspapers had glowing accounts of how
General Green Clay Smith drove Van Dorn back to his camp.
Our boys said that Van Dorn had found the muster rolls of
Coburn's brigade, and had come back after the balance of the
command ; they got it all, slick and clean, by the second capture
at Brentwood. Now, the Granny White pike crosses the Harpeth
not far west of Franklin; and why in the d 1 General Gordon
Granger did not send a portion of his corps of infantry to inter-
cept Van Dorn on his return to Spring Hill, is one of those
things which no private soldier of volunteers can ever find out."
The Ninety-Second did not march farther than Hollow Tree
Gap, when it returned to Franklin, and went into camp. By
command of General Granger, the troops at Franklin were or-
dered into line of battle, each morning an hour before daylight,
to stand shivering in the fog from the Harpeth, until after sun-
rise. On the afternoon of the twenty-seventh, Lieutenant Colo-
nel Sheets received orders to be ready to march in fifteen
minutes. The Ninety-Second was promptly in line, and marched
at five o'clock P. M. to Brentwood, reaching there after dark, and
bivouaced in the rain. The Colonel of the Ninety-Second was
in command of the troops, having with him the Ninety-Second,
the 96th Illinois Volunteers, the 6th Kentucky Volunteer Cav-
alry, and gth Ohio Battery of Artillery. The next morning, the
Regiment, and all of the command, went into camp in a grove
near a railroad bridge which the}' were to guard, and, on the next
morning, commenced fortifying, the cavalry regiment doing
scouting duty. A strong little fort was built for the artillery on
the brow of the hill, and a trench large enough to hold two regi-
ments was dug around it, in zig-zag shape, six feet wide, and six
feet deep, with benches of earth left each side for the troops
to stand on while firing. Timber was cut, and out of the limbs
was formed chevaux-dc-frise; that is, the limbs were sharpened at
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 77
the points, and placed thicklv, points outward, around the trench
and fort, and staked fast, so that a charging column could not get
easily over, or through them, or remove them, without axes.
The bodies of the trees were laid along the trench on both sides,
elevated on skids, so that the troops in the trench could fire
through the opening under the logs, and have their heads pro-
tected from the enemy's fire by them. The ground was chosen
on the apex of a knoll ; and, bv cutting down the trees on a gen-
tleman's lawn, and felling the trees in his orchard, which was,
of course, done, a clean sweep for musketry was obtained all
around. It was an unique idea; no such work was treated of in
anv military book; but it was inspected bv Captain Merrill,
Chief Engineer of the Army of the Cumberland, and pro-
nounced by him to be one of the strongest works that could have
been as easily constructed on that ground. Major John C. Smith,
a gallant soldier of the g6th Illinois Volunteers, had general
charge of the construction of the little fort and trench. All of
the able-bodied contrabands in the vicinity were pressed into
service, and heavy details made on the command for the work.
One white man was pressed into the service also, Dr. William
Mavlield, a finely educated, gentlemanly appearing little fellow,
who practiced medicine in that neighborhood. The Doctor, on
March 3Oth, visited the head-quarters of the Colonel command-
ing, and requested a permit to pass the guards, night or day, on
4 professional duty." A permit was prepared for him, but he
was requested to sign a written statement that he was, and would
remain, a loyal citizen, and, under penalty of death, would not
give information to the enemv. The Doctor blandly remarked
that he could not sign it, for the reason that he was a Rebel.
"What!" said the Colonel, "do you come here into my head-
quarters, and insist on a permit to pass my lines, night or day,
and tell me that you are a Rebel? Guard, take this Rebel to
Major Smith, and tell him to put the fellow at work in the
trenches." The guard did not need a second order. Side by side
with his own slaves the little fellow dug and delved until, after a
day or two, Major Smith reported him ill, and obtained permis-
sion to relieve him. The soldiers, and the darkies, enjoyed it
considerably more than did the little Rebel Doctor. The boys
would have their sport, and always enjoyed getting some laugh
on the officers. They found in the vicinity a little, old jackass,
and dressed him up in officers' uniform, with the hugest pair of
shoulder-straps ever seen, and paraded him through the camps,
78 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
to the delight of every one, for the officers good-naturedly joined
in the laugh, although it was at their expense. On the fifth of
April, there was a scare in camp, and the pickets were doubled ;
the enemy were reported to be marching in strong force to attack
the camp. How the boys did want them to come on, just to be
able to show them that surrendering, without righting, was not
what the Ninety-Second enlisted for. The command was ready
for them, and that is just the reason why they did not come.
Troops that are vigilant, and always readj r for battle, are seldom
gobbled up. For a nation, the surest guarantee of peace is to be
ready for war; for an outpost of an army, the surest guarantee
that there will be no fighting to do, is to be ready to accept battle
at any moment. The cavalry regiment was sent out, and found
parties of the enemy, who did not press on toward the command,
but retreated. On the eighth of April, General Morgan, with a
division of infantry, arrived from Nashville at Brentwood, and,
on thirty minutes' notice, at five o'clock P. M., the command
took up the line of march on its return to Franklin, arriving
after dark; and was up in line of battle at three in the morning of
the ninth, in accordance with Granger's order. On the tenth, at
about ten o'clock A. M., Van Dorn's cavalry, having been in-
formed that Franklin was evacuated the information probably
being based upon the fact that Sheridan's division had returned
to the vicinity of Murfresboro made a furious attack upon the
4Oth Ohio Infantry, of Atkins' Brigade, which was doing picket
duty south of Franklin. Of course, the Ninety-Second was in
line of battle very quickly. Van Dorn's troops charged the cav-
alry outposts on the three roads leading south from Franklin, and
chased them in on a dead run, all at the same time. The 4Oth
Ohio did not leave their posts ; but the officers and men of that
entire regiment made but little impression on the charging Rebel
columns that swept by while the 4Oth Ohio emptied their muskets
at them ; then the soldiers of the 4Oth Ohio took to the gardens,
buildings, and outhouses; while the charging Rebel columns
swarmed down into the village of Franklin, one Rebel even
crossing the pontoon bridge to the north of the river Harpeth,
and others being killed at the bridge on the south side. The
Rebels soon learned that their information in regard to the evacu-
ation of Franklin was a mistake, and that Granger's entire corps
still held it; and then they charged out again, a little more rapidly
than they had come in, while the 4oth Ohio gave them a hearty
salute as they passed back toward Spring Hill. The 4oth lost
NINETY SECOND ILLINOIS. 79
but two killed and seven wounded, while nineteen dead Rebels
lay close by their line, all killed with their musketry, and there
must have been a large number of Rebels wounded. The hills
and woods south of Franklin swarmed with Van Dorn's grey-
coats; and the heavy siege artillery, at the fort on the north side
of the Harpeth, sent shells over the 4Oth Ohio, and screaming on
beyond. The newspapers reported one hundred 'and fifty killed
and wounded in Van Dorn's command, probably a high estimate.
The cavalry of Green Clay Smith followed the Rebels again on
their return to Spring Hill. The dead Rebels near the pickets of
the 4Oth Ohio had canteens, with whisky and powder mixed in
them ; and whether or not they were inspired by draughts from
their canteens, they certainly made a most wreckless and dashing
charge into Franklin and out again. On the eleventh, a large
number of Rebel wounded were picked up in the woods south of
the town, and taken to the hospitals. On the twelfth, the Ninety-
Second again did picket duty south of Franklin. Gordon Gran-
ger camped his corps north of the Harpeth, and daily sent a
regiment to encircle the town on the south, and a regiment to
reinforce it at three A. M., so as to have two regiments there at
daylight each morning. When Major General Schofield was
falling back in front of Hood's Rebel army, and made a stand at
Franklin, and repulsed Hood's fiery attack, Schofield made his
line of battle where the line of the reserve pickets of the Ninety-
Second was this day ; that is, south of Franklin, encircling the
town from river bank to river bank. On the fifteenth of April,
the Ninety-Second was made happy by receiving four months'
pay. Pay day was always looked forward to most anxiously in
the army; many of the men had families at home, and needed
the trifling amount of their stipulated monthly pay to keep the
wolf from their home firesides during their absence. There is
too much machinery in the United States Army; the Pay-
master's Department ought to be abolished, and Regimental
Quartermasters instructed to pay the men promptly every month.
If not desirable for Regimental Quartermasters to carry the coin
or currency with them on campaigns, payments might be made
in drafts' on the money centers of the country, adding five mills
on a dollar for every hundred miles, from place of drawing draft
to place of payment; such drafts, in the hands of the soldier,
would be worth the full amount of his monthly pay anywhere.
The laborer is worthy of his hire, and then he would have it
when due him. On the seventeenth of April, orders from brigade
8o NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
head-quarters were issued to detail men from each company to
cook coffee, when the command went into line of battle before
daylight, and furnish each man in line A cup full of hot coffee as
soon as possible. Malaria lurks in the fog that rests upon the
earth just before sunrise, and coftee is an antidote to malaria.
Lieutenant Colonel Sheets had already disobeyed the orders of
Gordon Granger, to stand silently in battle-line, and had assisted
the circulation of the blood of the men in the Ninety-Second, by
rapid exercise in the manual of arms, and even by double-quick
marching; but, with every precaution, the men could not stand
it, and were rapidly going into hospital; it was only a sad conso-
lation to know that the percentage in the Ninety-Second of sick
men was much lower than in anv other regiment. On the
eighteenth, Second Lieutenant Horace C. Scoville, of Company
K, was promoted to First Lieutenant, and Sergeant Peleg R.
Walker, of Company K, was promoted to Second Lieutenant.
On the twentieth, there was target practice by the Regiment, and
Company A, with the smallest number of men, hit the target the
most times. On the twenty-second, the Regiment turned over
the bell tents drawn at Cincinnatit, and drew "dog tents." It
was the greatest possible improvement upon the old manner ot
sheltering the men far better for their health, and gave greater
mobility to the army, as it cut down the transportation trains
eleven wagons and sixty-six mules to every regiment. They
were simply strips of tent-cloth, about six and a half feet long,
by three feet wide, with button-holes on one edge, and buttons on
the other, one issued to each man, and to be carried by him on
the march, and two buttoned together formed the " tent" of two
soldiers. The men regarded them with extreme aversion, and
there were serious threatenings of mutiny when they were
issued. A soldier of the Ninety-Second, writing from Franklin
in a letter home, says: " The 'dog-kennels' have been introduced
into our Regiment; and now, in place of the sixty-five or seventy
tents used by us for the last eight months, we have one of these
rags for each man. Shelter tent is, however, a misnomer: there
is no shelter about it, but precisely the opposite. Have you ever
seen one? No. Well, I can introduce you to the modus ope-
rand! of making one. Rob your bed of a sheet, if you have
one (and if you have, it is more than I have had for some time, if
not longer); and now, while speaking of sheets, it is enough to
put a soldier to feeling bad not to have any, for there is a charm
in that word sheets : yes, there is. But to go on and tell you ho\v
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 81
to make one of these dog kennels. Go out into the yard, if you
have one ; pm down two sides of the sheet by a little pegging,
and then run a pole, if you have one, through the center, length-
wise ; elevate it upon big stones or stakes at the corners, and you
have a dog kennel such as we have, except that yours will be
larger than ours. Ours are about five feet wide by six feet long,
and are intended for two persons by splicing. In order to get
into them, the hands and knees are brought into requisition. In
turning over through the night, you must remember that it is
safest to back out, turn over, and then crawl in again. Unless
you do so, you are extremely liable to injure your pole, and down
comes your dog kennel. If Gordon Granger comes riding
through the camp, certain as you live, out comes the entire com-
mand on hands and knees from the dog kennels, and such un-
earthly barking, like dogs, never was heard ; and thousands take
it up, and away over and beyond the fort, and all through the
corps it is bark, bark, and growl, growl." During the night of the
twenty-sixth, the cavalry, under Gen. Green Clay Smith, inarched
out in the direction of Spring Hill, and surprised a camp of
Rebels, capturing about one hundred and thirty prisoners, and
one hundred horses; and on the morning of the twenty-seventh,
Atkins' brigade, including our Regiment, marched out to meet the
cavalry returning, and to be ready to support them, if support
was required. On April thirtieth, the Regiment was mustered
for pay, and inspected by Brigadier General A. Baird, Division
Commander. The day was observed by the Regiment as a day
of fasting and prayer.
On the first of May, Atkins' brigade, accompanied by a regiment
of cavalry, made a reconnoissance in the direction of Spring
Hill, with a little skirmishing, the Rebel picket falling back. On
the second, the Regiment again did picket duty south of Frank-
lin. Chaplain Cartwright, appointed vice White resigned, reached
camp, and, finding the regimental grounds nearly deserted,
approached Major Bohn, who was solemnly presiding over the
deserted camp, when the following dialogue is supposed to have
ensued: Chaplain "Do you belong to the Ninety-Second?"
Major " Yes, I have the honor to belong to that Regiment."
Chaplain " Well, God bless you; how do you do? I am Chap-
lain of the Ninety-Second. How are you? Where is Sheets?"
Major "Sheets, Sheets! Who is Sheets?" Chaplain "Why,
God bless you, man ; you a member of the Ninety-Second, and
don't know Sheets, Lieutenant Colonel Sheets?" Major " Oh!
10
82 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
ah! you are inquiring about Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, are you?"
Chaplain "Yes, Sheets; I know Sheets, and Sheets knows me,
and I want to see Sheets." Major " Well, I am sorry to say
that Lieutenant Colonel Sheets is not in just now." Chaplain
" Well, where is Woodcock?" Major "Woodcock, Woodcock!
There are plenty of mocking-birds in the woods along the Har-
peth, stranger; but, I tell you what it is, I have n't had a shot at
a woodcock since I left Carroll County." Chaplain ' I mean
Captain Woodcock, the County Clerk at Oregon." Major " Oh !
do you refer to Captain Woodcock, of Company K?" Chap-
lain " Yes, I know him." Major " Well, Captain Woodcock
is not in, either, just now." Chaplain " Well, then, where is
Preston; I know Preston." Major " Preston, Preston; it seems
to me that name sounds familiar; who is Preston?" Chaplain
" Why, Captain Preston, of Polo." Major " Oh ! you wish to
inquire about Captain Preston, of Company D?" Chaplain
" I know him, too." Major " Well, I am sorry to say that Cap-
tain Preston is not here just now." At this juncture, the Chap-
lain espied a soldier whom he had known in Ogle County,
Illinois, and bolted for him, and met a much warmer reception
than Major Bohn had given him. When the Major used to tell
about it, and declared that he was going to teach the new Chap-
lain to have dignity, everybody smiled out loud at the unique idea
of the Major teaching " dignity" to any one. On the third, the
new, old Chaplain preached his first sermon, and won the respect
and love of the men and officers from the start. Colonel Sheets
declined to order the men to attend preaching, but the Chaplain
found a way to get them out. At half-past ten, the usual church
time, the melodious and sonorous voice of the Chaplain was
heard, " Ho, boys ! Ho, boys ! Come up here, and help me serve
the Lord for half an hour, and I will help you in the trenches the
balance of the week." That was a proposition, on the part of the
Chaplain, that meant business. The boys took him at his word;
he had a congregation of willing listeners, and the men did not
afterward complain that the Chaplain did not keep his part of the
bargain. It did not run in the Cartwright blood to be lazy; and,
with pick, or spade, or axe, the Chaplain was an adept. On the
fifth, the Regiment went out chopping a swath through the tim-
ber on the hill-tops, for the signal corps to sight their flags
through. Now, of course, the soldiers of the Ninety-Second
know all about what that means; but, possibly, the child of a sol-
dier who may, perchance, read this book long years hence, will
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 83
not know what it means ; and it is npt an easy thing to explain
it in print, but we shall try and do so. If " the Committee on
Publication" belonged to the signal corps, and fully understood
it themselves, they might be able to explain it better ; but, alas !
the}' don't. Well, to start with, the signal corps send messages
from station to station by motion of flags. The signal flag is a
large, square, white flag, with a square patch of red in the center.
In communicating with another signal station, down to the
ground will go the signal flag to the right and up again ; then
down to the right and up again twice in rapid succession ; then
down to the left and up again ; then down to the right and clear
over down to the left and up again: and so it goes. These
motions of the signal flag mean something; we don't know what
they mean, only that every quick motion of the flag indicates a
letter of the alphabet, and that the message is being spelled out
by an officer of the next signal station, who is watching the mo-
tions of the signal with a powerful field telescope. Sometimes,
when high points are occupied by the signal stations, they are
twenty miles apart. Sometimes the forest trees, on the highest
points between stations, have to be chopped down to open a sight-
way from signal station to signal station ; and the Ninety-Second
were all wood-choppers on the fifth of May, 1863, performing
such duty. On the sixth, the pickets on the Louisburg pike,
south of Franklin, were attacked, and Atkins' Brigade moved out,
the Ninety-Second having the advance. General Baird, a soldier
loved by all under him, accompanied the command, and skir-
mished with the enemy quite lively until dark; returned to camp
about nine o'clock at night. On the eighth, Dr. Peters, of Spring
Hill, walked into the head-quarters of the Rebel General Van
Dorn, and deliberately killed him, by shooting him through
the head with a pistol, on account of the alleged intimacy of
General Van Dorn with Mrs. Peters. Doctor Peters, in the ex-
citement momentarily created by the assassination at the head-
quarters of the Rebel General, made his escape to the woods, in
the rear end of the house, and was at Franklin the next day with
the Union lines, boasting of his exploit. General Gordon Gran-
ger fixed up a letter, directed to the Commander of the Confede-
rate forces at Spring Hill, and sent the Colonel of the Ninety-
Second to deliver it under a flag of truce. With a hundred cavalry
as an escort, and a good supply of Havana cigars, and imported
wine, from General Granger's stock, accompanied by a few offi-
cers in their best suits, he approached the Rebel pickets, and
4 N1NETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
requested that an officer equal in rank might be sent for, to re-
ceive his dispatches. While waiting for a Confederate Colonel to
arrive, supper was prepared at a farm-house. When the Con-
federate Colonel came, accompanid by a few officers, all sat down
together at supper. The grey-coats made the best display of good
clothes ; but " Havana" cigars and " imported" wines were luxu-
ries they did not bring with them. While enjoying a social
smoke after supper, the conversation was turned upon Van Dorn's
sudden taking off. The Confederate officers pretended to know
nothing of it; but the Union officers detailed the story minutely,
without intimating that Peters had furnished the information,
and nonchalantly pretended that the Union officers knew every
thing daily occurring at Spring Hill. How they had such minute
information, was a puzzler to the Confederate officers; and so to
puzzle them, was the real object of the flag of truce. Just at
midnight, the grey-coats and blue-coats shook hands and sepa-
rated, each party returning to their own encampments.
Sunday, May tenth, was a beautiful day, and closed with a
brigade dress parade, an innovation of the Regulations ; which,
probably, did not occur in any other brigade in the army. The
brigade was composed of the gth Ohio battery of artillerv, the
Ninetv-Second, 96th, and ii5th Illinois, 74th Indiana, and 4Oth
Ohio infantrv regiment. At brigade dress parade, one regiment
was formed on the right; three regiments at right angles with the
first, the right of the line resting on the left of the first; the fifth
regiment at right angles with the three, right resting on the left,
forming three sides of a square, except that one of the sides was
three times the length of each of the others. The music of all
the regiments was massed, making a drum corps of a hundred
drummers and filers; and at the command, " Music, beat off," the
music, at slow time, the Ninety-Second Silver Band playing,
marched down in front of the first regiment, wheeled and passed
along the line of the three regiments, wheeled and passed the
fifth regiment. They marched back at quick time, the drum
corps of a hundred all playing. Lieutenant Lawver, Brigade
Adjutant, would then command, " Attention, battalions. Shoul-
der arms ! Prepare to open ranks, to the rear open order, march !"
The ranks opened, and aligned the commissioned officers in front;
the Adjutant took his position in front of the center of the line
of three regiments, and commanded, " Present arms!" Coming
to an " about face," he would salute Colonel Atkins, the Brigade
Commander, and say : " Sir, the parade is formed." The Adju-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 85
tant would then take position to the left and rear of the Colonel ;
and the Colonel, acknowledging the salute, would draw his sword
and command, "Battalions, shoulder arms!" And would then
go through with the entire manual of arms The practical diffi-
culty of the command of execution being heard at the same
instant by so large a body of troops, was obviated by a little
Yankee ingenuity ; while not able to hear at the same instant,
they were able to see; and after giving the preparatory command,
" Shoulder," he would wait abundantly long for his voice to be
heard by the flanks; and at the command of "Arms," the left
hand of the Colonel commanding always went up into the air;
and every soldier in the line could see that at the same instant, and
the manual of arms was executed by the entire brigade, with as
exact precision as it was ever executed by a squad of five men.
Officers of the Regular Army looked on, and Avondered at the
precision of the execution of the manual of arms, but did not
detect the slight of hand by which it was attained. After the
manual of arms had been executed, brigade orders were read by
the Adjutant. At the command, " Parade dismissed," the field
officers of the brigade returned swords, closed on the Adjutant,
and marched up to salute the Brigade Commander. When the
field officers dispersed, the Captains marched their companies to
quarters. On May fourteenth, the Ninety-Second was again on
picket south of Franklin. On the nineteenth, there was brigade
drill, for the first time, in a clover-field north of Franklin. On the
twenty-first, there was another brigade drill, General Baird being
present. On the twenty-second, the Regiment was called up at
two A. M., and ordered to be ready to march at three A. M., but
the order was countermanded. Brigade drills every day, until the
twentv-seventh, when orders came to be ready to march at three
A. M., with two days' cooked rations and seventy rounds of am-
munition. The Regiment was ready, and waited all day for the
order to " march," but none came. There were countless rumors
of a Rebel attack on Triune.
On the first of June, the sick were all sent to Nashville. On
the second, there were orders to be ready to march at three A. M.,
the time that Granger always proposed to march; but the Regi-
ment waited in the rain until Granger's leisurely breakfast had
been eaten, and started at nine o'clock A. M. for Triune. It was
very hot and showry, the dirt roads horrible for men and trains;
the men lightened up their loads, by throwing away extra pairs of
shoes, overcoats, and some even dress-coats and blankets. It was
86 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
the first march for the new, old Chaplain, and the kind-hearted
old man knew the boys would want their blankets when night
came, and he loaded down his horse with as many as his horse
could carry. After reaching camp, he called the boys to come
and get their blankets ; but the Chaplain did not have blankets for
all who came; and it is said that he did not have one for himself
that night! It was a hard march, many of the men falling out bv
the way, and many not reaching Triune until the next morning.
The next day there was cannonading at Franklin, and the cavalry
was sent back there. General Granger reviewed the remainder
of his corps, thirty regiments of infantry, and thirty-six pieces of
light artillery. It was Granger's order to be up at three A. M.,
daily, and stand silently in line of battle until after sunrise; that
order, kept up for months, killed more men of his corps than the
Rebels ever did. It rained on the fifth, and the picket firing was
continuous all day. On the seventh, the cavalry had a light
skirmish, and the Regiment was in line of battle from morning
until night. On the ninth, the Regiment was paid. On the
eleventh, Forrest made an attack on Triune. Atkins' Brigade,
holding the front, was promptly in line, two regiments on the
right of the road, concealed by timber and underbrush, with a
masked battery, an open clover field in front, through which,
about one hundred yards in front of the regiments, the water had
cut a deep gully, that no horse could leap or get through. For-
rest was leading a charge of Rebel cavalry over the open field,
right in the direction of the gully, where he must neces-
sarily have come to a halt, and been at the mercy of the
masked artillery and two. regiments of infantry, that had been
directed not to fire a shot until the Brigade Commander gave the
order. At this juncture, up rode Gordon Granger, and ordered
the boys to fire. The commander of the brigade endeavored to
explain to Granger, but he would hear nothing, and so the artil-
lery opened on the charging column before it had come within
musket range, and it quickly retreated. If Granger had been
acquainted with the ground himself, or had listened to the
Colonel commanding the brigade, there would have been terrible
slaughter in that Rebel column when it reached the gully
running through the clover field, which was not discernable
twenty feet away, but an effectual barrier to horsemen, where the
artillery could have thrown grape and canister, and two regiments
of infantry, at short range, poured in a musketry fire. As it was,
the- artillery killed only a few Rebels, and Forrest and most of
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 87
his troops rode safely away. Granger then ordered the troops to
fire on our own skirmishers, that the Brigade Commander had
just sent out to a brick house, on the left of the road, in front of
the line of battle, but the men knew they were our own troops,
and refused to obey his order. Granger then rode off. The
Rebels planted a section of artillery, and sent their shells flying
over the brigade. Our brigade battery of artillery replied, and
dismounted one of the Rebel guns. The Rebels soon withdrew.
There were no losses in the Ninety-Second. The newspapers
reported the Rebel loss at twenty-one killed and seventy wounded.
One laughable incident occurred. The camp equippage was
quickly loaded in wagons and moved to the rear, and on the top
of one wagon, the company wagon of Company I, sat a little
negro on a knapsack packed with clothing. A Rebel shell
knocked the knapsack out from under the colored boy, without
injuring him in the least; but he was terribly frightened. The
mules ware too slow for him after that, and he went to the rear
on foot double quick. About two A. M. of June thirteenth, a
brigade of infantry, and a force of cavalry, prepared to march
out on the road south of Triune, General Steedman in command,
and 'blowing of the bugles in the cavalry camp aroused all the
troops, who imagined it was the Rebel cavalry. At three P. M.,
while our brigade was all out in the large clover field drilling,
the firing at the front became brisk, and the whole brigade
received orders to march to the assistance of Steedman, and
moved from the drill ground rapidly four miles south of Triune,
where Steedman was met, leisurely falling back, with only a
regiment engaged as rear guard, skirmishing. Steedman said he
had one pretty little brush with them, but there was no difficulty
in repulsing the enemy. Returned to camp after dark, and were
called up at eleven P. M. to await marching orders, and waited
until after daylight, but no orders came. The next day, Sunday,
June fourteenth, there was inspection, and orders received to keep
constantly on hand two days' cooked rations, and sixty rounds ball
cartridges to the man. This order kept the men constantly on
cold victuals, and sometimes spoiled victuals. On the seventeenth,
the Ninety-Second cut down the timber between the Shelbyville
and Murfresboro pikes, so that it could not be used as a cover by
the enemy. On the twentieth, there was a scare, and pickets
doubled, but no attack came. On June twenty-third, the Regi-
gent marched with the corps from Triune at daylight, but were
delayed by wagon trains, and, after marching twelve miles,
88 NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
camped at two P. M. Marched next day at one P. M., in hard rain,
and at one o'clock at night bivouaced on the Shelbyville pike, at
Walnut Church. Willich's Brigade took Liberty Gap, and
Wilder's Brigade took Hoover's Gap from the Rebels, and we
marched all the afternoon to the music of heavy cannonading.
The rain was continuous night and day. The next day, the
twenty-fifth, inarched but a mile, standing in line all day, listen-
ing to the continuous roar of artillery in the distance. Sent the
knapsacks and surplus trumpery to Murfresboro, to lighten the
loads of the men. Remained at Walnut Church all the next
day, cannonading heavy at the fort. On the twenty-seventh,
moved at twelve M. down the .Shelbyville pike to Guy's Gap.
The cavalry, under command of General Mitchell, had the
advance, and charged into Shelbyville at five P. M., capturing five
hundred and five prisoners and two pieces of artillery. On the
twenty-eighth, the Ninety-Second guarded the Rebel prisoners,
marching eight miles toward Murfresboro, and turned over
the prisoners to the 96th Illinois. Captain Espy, of the H5th
Illinois, Commissary on the staff 'of the Colonel commanding
the brigade, was notified of the coming of" the Rebel prisoners,
and issued rations to them, and in the kindness of his heart, even
prepared hot coffee for them in large plantation kettles. How
different from the treatment of our soldiers in the hands of the
enemy at Andersonville! The kind-hearted, gallant Captain
Espy lost his life afterward, at Chicamauga. On the twenty-
ninth, the Ninety-Second joined the brigade, four miles north of
Shelbyville. On the thirtieth, marched through Shelbyville, and
camped one mile south of the town, on Duck River, and was
mustered for pay. On the first of July, moved a mile and went
into permanent camp. The Colonel of the Ninety-Second learn-
ed of the probability that General Baird would leave the divi-
sion, and, desiring himself to get out from under the command
of General Gordon Granger, he earnestly sought the influence of
Colonel Arthur C. Ducat, Inspector General oi' the Army of the
Cumberland, whom he had been intimately acquainted with
while they were serving together under Grant, at Cairo; and of
Colonel Simmons, Commissary of the Army of the Cumberland,
who had served with the Colonel of the Ninety-Second on the
staff of General Hurlbut in the Army of the Tennessee; and of
Colonel John W. Taylor, the Chief Quartermaster of the Army
of the Cumberland, who was a brother of the law partner of the
Colonel of the Ninety-Second, to induce General Rosecrans to
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 89
detach the Ninety-Second from the reserve corps of General
Granger, and attach it to some active command at the front; and
he received the assurance of the gentlemen named that they would
use their influence with General Rosecrans to obtain such an
order. On the third of July, the Ninety-Second marched at two
o'clock P. M. to Wartrace, eight miles, on the Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad, through a terrible rain storm, the water in
the mountain roads being, frequently, two feet deep. From an
old letter written by a member of the Ninety-Second, from
Wartrace, we extract the following: "It was given to Stokes'
regiment, under the command of Major Gilbraith, to lead the
charge into Shelbyville. Major Gilbraith's family lived in that
town. At it thev went with a rush and a yell, dashing into town,
cutting, shooting, and killing. The Rebels were so hard pressed
that, for all to cross the bridge over Duck River, was impossible.
Many rushed for the ford above, the Union cavalry on their
heels, and into the river the Rebels plunged, which, being high
from recent rains, was difficult to cross, and between fifty and a
hundred of the Rebels were drowned. Our boys pulled out quite
;i number of the dead Confederate soldiers two days afterward,
and gave them decent burial. Stokes' regiment were fighting
for their own homes and firesides. Such meetings of old friends
in Shelbyville never occurred there before. Men, women and
children were kissing and embracing each other in the streets,
while tears rolled down their cheeks, until the stoutest heart
would melt away in like feelings. To see men, old and young,
embracing and hugging each other, was a common occurrence.
For several davs after their deliverance, refugees who had sought
shelter and protection at the North for a year or more, returned to
their homes and families. O, such meetings and greetings as I
there witnessed is worth a year of the hard life of a soldier.
Bedford county, of which Shelbyville is the capital, 'is largely
Union, and it is due to the efforts of Mr. Edmund Cooper, an
influential, patriotic and able lawyer of Shelbyville, that so many
citizens of Bedford county have remained true and faithful to the
Union. Bragg made his head-quarters there, and during the
reign of terror the Union people suffered beyond the power of
iny description. The Fourth of July has been made perpetual there
every day since our troops broke the shackles, and Union flag*,
long sewn up in quilts, are brought out and deck the town.
Platforms are erected, and speeches are made by citizens and
oldiers daily, while the Court House square is packed full
11
90 NINBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
of the ladies and gentlemen of Shelbyville, waving flags and
handkerchiefs, and singing Union songs. The emotions, the
rejoicings, the joyful demonstrations, the bursting out of long
pent up feelings, are as boundless as the ocean, and no pen can
picture the real happiness of the citizens. Long live Shelbj-ville.
It is the general opinion that Bragg would have been bagged if
the weather had not been so continuously rainy ; and now he is
away down at Chattanooga, with a demoralized army, trying to
get up into Kentucky by the way of Knoxville. The Rebels
burned all the bridges over Duck River, and also over Elk River:
but the first are up again, and the others will be before this letter
reaches you."
July fourth was celebrated by a cessation of all ordi nan-
duties, and most of the men went black-berrying, and found the
most lucious blackberries in the greatest abundance in the "old
fields" about Wartrace. The Colonel of the Ninety-Second
dined with Captain Hicks, of the 96th Illinois. Many patriotic
speeches were made. On Sunday, the fifth, there was preaching
and black-berrying. On the sixth, the Ninety-Second marched
seven miles, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, to
Duck River, and engaged in building a wagon bridge across that
stream at Rouseville. Colonel Wilder came along, and, fancying
the Ninety-Second, declared his determination to have it detached
from the reserve corps, and assigned to his brigade of mounted
infantry. It is safe to say that the men of the Ninety-Second
were overjoyed with the hope that Wilder might be successful in
his application. Apples and blackberries were abundant, and
details were made to gather them, while the work of building the
bridge progressed, which was completed on the ninth. Colonel
Wilder's application was supplemental to the request of the
Colonel df the Ninety-Second, and was successful, and General
Rosecrans detached the Ninety-Second from General Gordon
Granger's corps, and assigned it to Wilder's brigade of mounted
infantry. On the tenth, the Regiment returned to Wartrace, and
there was great excitement among all the troops to be mounted.
The 4Oth Ohio, officers and men, joined in a petition to Colonel
Atkins to have that regiment mounted. On the eleventh, a detail
was sent to Murfresboro for horses, and Lieutenant Colonel
Sheets went to Nashville to procure equipments. In a letter
home, written at Wartrace, July i6th, 1863, a soldier of the
Ninety-Second writes: "The Ninety-Second is no longer first
regiment, first brigade, first division, reserve army corps,
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 91
but has been detached, by special order of General Rosecrans,
making a special selection of the Ninety-Second, without any
solicitation or knowledge on our part. Nothing but the good
reputation we bear could have secured to us this high and hon-
ored position. The Spencer Repeating Rifle is the arm we are
to use. With the Spencer Rifle one hundred men are as effect-
ive as five hundred with the Enfield. Our saddles are here.
Four hundred and forty horses will be here by noon ; and four
companies are now over Duck River, under charge of that excel-
lent and efficient officer and gentleman, Captain Horace J. Smith,
of Oregon. Six companies are here waiting for the equipments
which Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, now at Nashville, is pushing
forward as rapidly as possible. You may expect to hear of sharp
work from us soon, as our position (mounted infantry) will keep
us to the front of the invincible and advancing Army of the
Cumberland." On the nineteenth, the Ninety-Second, under the
command of Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, made its first march on
horseback, seven miles to Duck River, and joined Wilder's
brigade. Colonel Atkins was ordered, by telegraphic dispatch
from General Gordon Granger, to remain in command of the
brigade of infantry, which he had commanded more than six
months. He took the position that none but a department com-
mander could issvie such an order, and as the department com-
mander had detached his Regiment from the reserve corps, he
was also detached from that corps, and on the twenty-first, dis-
regarding Granger's order, he turned over the command Qf the
brigade to Colonel T. E. Champion, of the 96th Illinois^ and
himself joined the Ninety-Second, and assumed command of the
Regiment. On the twenty- second, a detail of two hundred
mounted men was ordered from the Ninety-Second to report to
Colonel John J. Funkhouser, of the gSth Illinois mounted in-
fantrv, to scout along Duck River, and pick up animals and able-
bodied contrabands. Colonel Atkins took command of the detail,
and reported to Colonel Funkhouser the entire detail under
Colonel Funkhouser, amounting to six hundred. On the twenty-
fifth, three hundred and eighty horses arrived from Nashville for
the Ninety-Second. On the twenty-sixth, at two P. M., the
Regiment marched, with Wilder's brigade, fifteen miles, to
Tullahoma. On the twentv-seventh, marched to Dechard, with
brigade, and joined division of Major General J. J. Reynolds, 4th
division, i4th army corps, Major General George H. Thomas
commanding. On the twenty-eighth, Colonel Atkins returned
*8 N1NBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
with captured animals. The detail had a gala time of it; the
column marched west, on the north side of Duck River, through
Shelbyville, and as far west as Hickman county, capturing all
the horses and mules and able-bodied contrabands in the country.
Scouting parties were sent bv Colonel Funkhouser along the
south side of the river, capturing all they could, but moving
rapidly, and spreading the report that thev were the advance of a
column marching west on the south of the river. The citizens
would gather up their stock and contrabands, and make for the
north side of Duck River, to escape capture, and run into the very
column they were attempting to escape. The results of the
expedition were the capture of fiftv Rebel soldiers, found home
on furlough ; between sixteen and seventeen huridred horses and
mules, the horses to mount our men upon, the mules for the
wagon trains; and eight hundred able-bodied negroes, for muster
into a colored regiment. On the thirtieth, the camp was moved
to better grounds, the camp regularly laid out, policed and adorned
with evergreens. The strictest discipline was enforced. A
soldier, in his diary, under date of July thirty-first, 1863, writes:
" Not much of anything to do, but water, feed, groom and graze
our horses. In the evening \ve had dress parade, bv Regiment,
when something less than a thousand orders were read to us,
concerning roll-call, drills, feeding and watering our horses, and a
great many other things too numerous to mention. They were
so arranged as to keep a soldier busy every hour in the day, from
half past four in the morning until nine o'clock at night. This
we find to be the effect of lying in camp, where the officers have
nothing to do but manufacture orders." The Regiment was all
mounted, and on the first of August, all the Spencers not in use
in the other regiments of Wilder's brigade were turned over to
the Ninety-Second, enough to arm three companies, and the
lucky companies getting them were D, E and F. In the forenoon
of the second, there was inspection ; in the afternoon, regimental
drill ; in the evening, dress parade. The soldiers did not fancy
the drill and discipline, especially as the other regiments of
mounted infantry paid no attention to drill, discipline or cleanli-
ness of camp, and a soldier, in his diary, writes: "This is what
makes the thing military." The blacksmiths were busy shoeing
and branding the captured animals. On the fourth of August,
the Regiment held its first inspection on horseback. The sixth
was observed as a day of thanksgiving, agreeably to the procla-
mation of the President, and the thanksgiving dinners were
NINETT-SRCOND ILLINOIS. 93
composed of green corn, " sow-belly " and " Uncle Abe's plat-
form," as the boys called the " hard-tack." The Regiment was
addressed by the Chaplain and Colonel. The weather contiuned
intensely hot; on the ninth, a soldier was sun-struck while on
duty ; on the thirteenth, a soldier writes in his diary : " I was
again detailed on head-quarter's guard, and to-day had to stay
around to salute officers. It is certainly very disgusting to have
to walk backwards and forwards on a beat when the sun pours
down as hot as it does in this climate, and at this time of the
year, and see the red tape, the military pomp, the West Pointism
that is put on at our regimental head-quarters. In the after-
noon, it rained, making it a great deal more agreeable and
pleasant, as it was not so hot, and there were not so many officers
strutting around." Rations and forage were scarce, as " Rosy "
was using all the cars to get up hard-tack and ammunition for a
move. The men went foraging for their animals and themselves,
but the country was soon stripped ; no matter, the army was pre-
paring to leave it.
94 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CHATTANOOGA OVER THE CUMBER-
LAND MOUNTAINS ARTILLERY PRACTICE AT HARRISON'S
LANDING FIRST SCOUT ON LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN LEADING
THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND INTO CHATTANOOGA CA-
TAWBA WINE FIGHTING FORREST AT RINGGOLD, GEORGIA
REBEL SPIES PRETENDING TO BE DESERTERS GORDON'S
MILL MARCHING DOWN LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN IN THE STORM
AND DARKNESS SCOUTING ALONG THE CHICAMAUGA BE-
FORE THE BATTLE THE BATTLE OF CHICAMAUGA How
McCooK's CORPS WAS SURPRISED AND ROUTED BACK TO
HARRISON'S LANDING A DYING WOMAN BACK AGAIN
OVER THE CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS CAPERTON'S FERRY
OFF FOR HUNTSVILLE JUDGE HAMMOND'S PLANTATION
THE COLD NEW YEAR'S NIGHT, 1864 PULASKI, TENN.
BACK TO HUNTSVILLE SKIRMISH AT BAINBRIDGE FERRY
FIGHT AT SWEETWATER TRIANNA SCOUTING ALONG TIIK
TENNESSEE DETACHED FROM WILDER'S BRIGADE.
Sunday morning, August sixteenth, 1863, General Rosecrans'
army, that, since the advance on Tullahoma and Shelbyville, had
been scattered in camps about Dechard and Winchester, north of
the Cumberland Mountains, pushed out after Bragg, whose head-
quarters were then at Chattanooga, south of the Tennessee River.
The main army marched to Stevenson, and crossed the Tennessee
at Bridgeport and Caperton's Ferry, and swung off through the
mountain gorges, to the south and west of the Rebel strong-
hold. Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry, Minty's brigade of
cavalry, and Wagner's brigade of infantry, crossed the Cumberland
range into the Tennessee valley north of Chattanooga, with orders
to demonstrate stronglv, as if contemplating a crossing, at every
ford and ferrv on the Tennessee. At eleven A. M., the Regiment
marched, with Wilder's brigade, toward the mountain that loomed
up in the distance, and, in a heavy thunder-shower, climbed up its
side over a rocky road, down which the water rushed and roared,
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 95
and, after marching twelve miles, camped at University Place, on
the mountain-top The town is celebrated for its mineral springs,
and as being the seat of the college over which Bishop Polk, of
Tennessee, at that time a Confederate Major General in Bragg's
army, had presided. There were many beautiful residences in
the place; among them Bishop Folk's, and the mountain village
had been quite a resort in summer for Southern people. A sol-
dier, on the seventeenth, writes in his diary : "This morning I
took my horse to graze on a spot high enough to overlook the
valley below. Beneath where I stood, over the valley hung a
heavy cloud, and where it hung, no portion of the valley could be
seen; and, looking from above on the clouds beneath me, I com-
pared the scene to a storm-tossed ocean. One cloud would be
higher than another, and all in constant motion, like the changing
billows of the sea 3 and all moving slowly down the valley. Such
a beautiful sight of the marvelous works of nature I never be-
fore looked upon. By and by, as the sun approached the zenith,
the clouds lifted higher and higher, until I could see the long
winding valley, as it stretched far off in the distance. It looked
to me like the prettiest land in the world, and as if the happiest
people on earth might reside there. But, alas! when I marched
through the valley, how different the scene ! Deserted log cab-
ins, a few only occupied by negroes that lived as best they
could. War had laid its destructive hand upon the valley. Hu-
man habitations were deserted, and even the birds refused to sing,
and nothing was heard but the neighing of horses, braying of
mules, the rumble of cannon wheels and wagon trains." On the
seventeenth, the Regiment marched about twenty miles, and
camped, still on the mountain. On the eighteenth, marched
early, passed Tracy City, a coal-mining town, and again camped
on the mountain. Marched at seven o'clock, on the morning ot
the nineteenth, and, a little after noon, descended into the Se-
quatchie Valley. On going down the mountain, the advance had
a brisk little skirmish with the enemy, and camped early. Com-
pany A was on picket on the Jasper road, and was fired upon by
the enemy, when Colonel Wilder sent out four companies of the
1 7th Indiana, who killed one, and wounded one, of the enemy
and captured eight prisoners. Another party, sent out by Colonel
Wilder on another road, surprised a party of Rebel conscript
officers in a church, killed two, wounded four, and captured
twenty ; among them eight Union men, three of whom had been
sentenced to be shot the next dav, but whose lives were saved by
96 NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
the whole party being captured by the Yankees. These moun-
tainous regions were full of Union men, and the vilest scum of
the Rebel army was sent to conscript them into the Rebel ser-
vice. The atrocities committed by the conscripting parties
surpassed belief. They were too cowardly to fight in battle, but
ferociously brutal toward the defenseless Union men who fell
into their power. The Union men in the mountain regions
of Tennessee carried their lives in their hands. On the twen-
tieth, two companies of the Ninety-Second were sent back to
Tracy City to guard the supply trains. The mountain is about
twenty-five hundred feet high, and it is two miles up the steep
and winding road from the valley to the mountain top. On the
twenty-first, the brigade crossed Walden's Ridge, a continuation
of Lookout Mountain on the north side of the river, and camped
at Poe's Tavern, in the valley of the Tennessee. The scenery,
from the top of Walden's Ridge above Poe's Tavern, is very
beautiful. Below lies the valley of the Tennessee, some ten
miles broad, through which the river winds like a thread of
silver; off to the south lies the city of Chattanooga, twelve miles
distant. As the Regiment commenced descending, a party of
officers dismounted, and standing on a jutting rock that appar-
ently was overhanging the valley, thev could, with a field glass,
plainly see the streets of Chattanooga, swarming with the
army wagons of Bragg's army. On the river, ten miles above
the city, was seen a little steamer, flying the Confederate flag,
slowly moving northward. The day was beautiful, and the
officers lingered until shouts in the valley called them to
join the Regiment. On the twenty-second, Colonel Wilder
marched down the valley toward Chattanooga, leaving the
Ninety-Second and two pieces of rifled artillery to scout the
country, and demonstrate at the fords and ferries above and be-
low Dallas, on the Tennessee. The Regiment marched to Har-
rison's Landing. A Rebel picket was found on the top of the hill
where the road commences to descend to the Tennessee River,
but rapidly fell back, and crossed in a flat-boat to the other side.
The enemv had a fort on the hill, back some distance from the
water-front, in which were mounted three pieces of artillery ; and
close to the bank of the river were rifle pits, along the top of
which the gray-coated soldiers were leisurely pacing. A large
frame house stood on the bank of the river, on the side occupied
bv the Ninety-Second, in the vard of which the Colonel stood,
examining the Rebel works across the river with hi? glass, when
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 97
the Rebel officer of the day, with his sash across his shoulder,
rode down the hill from the fort, rapidly dismounted and kneeled
under a tree, on the opposite side of the river, and the Colonel
was endeavoring to discover what he was doing, when a puff of
white smoke informed him that the Rebel officer was firing a rifle,
and soon after the leaden messenger passed over the Colonel,
through the side of the house, and through the arm of William
C. Patterson, a member of Company D, the first soldier in the
Ninety-Second to be hit by the enemy. The men of the Ninety-
Second took position along the river's edge, and, concealed by
the undergrowth, opened a fire on the sentries leisurely pacing on
top of the Rebel rifle-pits, who quit marching their beats. The
Enfields would not carry across the river without a double
charge of powder, but the Spencers, with which three companies
were armed, carried over very accurately. The men of the
Ninety-Second had the advantage ; they were concealed from the
view of the enemy by the undergrowth along the river's edge,
and their position could only be guessed by the puff of white
smoke from their rifles; while, if the enemy put their heads
above the bare earth-work they were behind, they made fair
marks for our men. After practicing at long range across the
Tennessee for an hour, the Regiment withdrew and returned to
the vicinity pf Poe's Tavern. A scouting party up the river
found a small Rebel steamer concealed in a creek, and burned it.
On Sunday, August twenty-third, the Ninety-Second lay in
camp, listening to the guns of Wilder, Minty, and Wagner, shel-
ling Chattanooga from the north side of the river. On the next
day, the Ninety-Second returned to Harrison's Landing, and
planted two pieces of artillery on the hill; the three cannon of
the enemy in their fort were plainly discernable, the Rebel gun-
ners sitting on the parapet, smoking and whittling, out of the
range of musketry. The enemy had cut hazel brush and
willows, and thickly covered the top of their rifle-pits at the
water-front with them. We could not see their heads when they
fired as we could before, when the earth-work was bare. The
Lieutenant of the artillery was a long time in getting ready, and
when the Colonel urged him to hurry up, and give them a few
shots, the Lieutenant said he was waiting to get the range; he
wanted a man to stand up on the parapet of the Rebel fort, and
let him look at him through a little brass instrument the Lieu-
tenant held in his hand, by which he could tell the distance
within a few feet. An accommodating Rebel soon stood up for a
98 NINETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
moment, and the Lieutenant sighted him with his instrument,
took out a paper and figured a while with a pencil, carefully cut
two shells, and loaded his pieces, sighted them, apparently at the
sky, and let them both off at once. The smoke cleared away,
and not a gun or Rebel could be seen again about that fort.
The Colonel tried his hand at sighting artillery. The first shell
he fired went into the Tennessee River ; the second bursted in the
air far beyond the Rebel fort. He gave it up, and the Lieuten-
ant of artillery kept up the firing leisurely for an hour or more,
the enemy not replying. It was not known then what injury our
artillery had done, but a copy of the Daily Chattanooga Rebel,
printed the next day, contained a statement that the first two
shots, fired with so much care by the Lieutenant of artillery,
had dismounted one of the Rebel guns, and killed four Rebel
soldiers. The Regiment moved up to Dallas, and let fly a few
shots from the artillery at a Rebel picket post on the opposite
side of the ferry, and scattered it into the woods out of range,
when the command returned to the Chattanooga road, a few
miles south of Poe's Tavern, and encamped, and lay there,
scouting to the various ferries along the Tennessee River, until
the fourth of September. Men and animals subsisted entirely
upon the country, and the only food procurable was green corn,
unripe sweet potatoes, and green peaches, and as the men were
generally in bad health when leaving Dechard, there was fear
that their diet would soon put the entire Regiment into the hospi-
tal ; but directly the reverse was true ; their vegetable diet agreed
with them, and by the fourth of September the men of the Regi-
ment were in robust health. The enemy at Harrison's Landing
would sometimes send over the ferry boat after daylight, and,
occasionally, a squad of Rebel horsemen, who would come out
to our pickets, fire a shot or two, and hasten back. One morning,
at one o'clock, a detail went to Harrison's with instructions to
dismount, and approach through the woods, dividing in two
parties, one some distance from the Landing, and one near it, and
to keep concealed in the thickets. Soon after sunrise the con-
cealed men heard the Rebels hallooing across, and they were
soon answered by the women in the house, at the Landing, waving
a handkerchief, the signal, that no Yanks were about. Six horse-
men, and a few dismounted men, soon entered the flat-boat and
paddled slowly across the river. The Rebel horsemen mounted
and rode up to the house, conversed with the women, and cau-
tiously kept on up the road, when the party below them stepped
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 99
into the road behind them, and another party in front of them.
They saw they were trapped, and did not attempt to fight, but
quieth' surrendered. The men then charged for the ferry boat,
but the Rebels in it shoved it from shore, laid down, and paddled
with one hand over the side of the flat-boat ; it floated off down
the river, slowly making for the other shore. The house on the
river bank caught fire and burned down. On the third of Sep-
tember, 1863, company K was on picket duty on the north bank
of the Tennessee River, opposite Harrison's Landing; the enemy,
in their rifle-pits, on the other side of the river, kept up a pro-
miscuous firing. Company K replied with-spirit, wounding, as the
company believed, many of the gray-coats. In the firing, James
Mullarky, a brave and faithfull soldier of Company K, was
wounded, being the second man in the Ninety-Second to be hit
with Rebel lead, and he still carries the 'Rebel musket-ball in his
arm. On the fourth of September, the Ninety-Second reported
to Colonel Wilder, near Chattanooga, and found that it had been
ordered to report to General Thomas, for scouting duty, he hav-
ing no mounted men with him, all being with Wilder and Minty
on the left of the army, or with McCook on the right. The Regi-
ment, with two brass guns, moved immediately to Thurman,
where Major Bohn, with Companies I and H, with wagon train,
joined th,e Regiment. Moved early the next morning, marched
twenty-two miles down the Sequatchie valley. The valley is
usually not more than three or four miles wide, and walled in by
very high and exceedingly abrupt mountain ranges, the bare
rocky walls, in places, rising twenty-five hundred feet above the
valley ; the river is a beautiful mountain stream, and the bottom
lands very fertile. It seems to be the natural home of the
weeping willow, and the most beautiful specimens of that grace-
ful tree were seen, some of them of enormous growth, their long
pendant branches nearlv sweeping the earth. Camped at Jasper.
Marched at daylight next morning, crossed the Tennessee on the
pontoon bridge at Bridgeport, and marching ten miles on the
south side of the river, went into camp at Cave Spring, where
the Rebels had extensive saltpeter works, leaching the earth
gathered from the floors of the huge cave in the mountain. Some
of the men and officers went far into the cave; and the band
played, expecting the cave to give back wonderful echoes, but it
didn't. Marched on the seventh, at daylight, climbed and crossed
Raccoon Mountain, and down into Trenton vallev. Marched
again at daylight, and reported to General Thomas at about ten
loo NINETT-SRCOND ILLINOIS.
o'clock in the morning, in Trenton vallev, and was, by him,
directed to report to Major General Reynolds, who directed the
Colonel to put his Regiment into camp, and shoe his horses.
The animals were in bad condition. At one o'clock, a detail of
fifty men, on picked horses, under Captain Van Buskirk, of
Company E, was sent on a scout to the top of Lookout Mountain.
They climbed the west side of the rugged mountain by an unused
bridle-path, the first blue-coated soldiers ever on Lookout,
pushed the Rebel pickets to Surnmertown, in plain sight of
Chattanooga, and returned about ten o'clock at night, with
authentic information of the evacuation of Chattanooga by
Bragg's army. The Colonel was ordered to report to General
Rosecrans, who gave him written orders to take the advance into
Chattanooga, marching at four o'clock, on the morning of the
ninth, with orders to all infantry commanders to give the Ninety-
Second the road ; and the Colonel was directed to go into the
town of Chattanooga, and send General Rosecrans prompt
information; and then to return with his Regiment and report to
General Rosecrans; and as they parted General Rosecrans said:
"The flag of the Ninety-Second will wave first in Chattanooga."
The Regiment marched promptly, and passed long lines of
infantry that gave the road, until the Colonel came up to the di-
vision of General Wood. The Colonel rode forward and showed
his orders to General Wood, who criticised them and hesitated,
but finally halted his command, and the Ninety-Second passed
through it. The enemy's pickets were struck at the foot of
Lookout, and pushed along up the mountain. Company F was
dismounted, and on foot, from behind the rocks and trees, gave
back shot for shot to the gray-coats sullenly falling back in front
of them, until the mountain top was reached, when Wilder's
artillery, from Moccasan Point, on the north side of the river,
sent its screaming shells into our ranks. The skirmish line
halted, and two volunteers, from the Ninety-Second, good
swimmers, were directed to swim the Tennessee, and inform our
brigade battery that its shells were bursting among the men of
its own brigade ; but a soldier who had served in the signal corps
was along, and, tieing his white handkerchief by the corners to
a couple of straight hazel-sticks, he soon acquainted the troops
over the river with the situation, and the battery ceased firing,
and the. Ninety-Second's skirmish line pushed on. Just at this
juncture, a staff officer of General Wood rode up to the Colonel
and "said: " General Wood directs that you report to him." The
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 101
Colonel ordered the skirmish line and Regiment to push along,
and then rode back to the head of Wood's division of infantry,
and said to General Wood: " Did you send for me?" Wood re-
plied : " Yes, Colonel ; I wanted to say to you, that if you have
any difficulty I will reinforce you." The Colonel replied : " Oh,
is that all?" and again returned to the head of the Ninety-
Second, and found it just commencing the descent into the
Chattanooga valley. The Regimental colors were sent forward to
the advance, and it was ordered to go at a gallop from the foot
of the mountain into Chattanooga. Soon afterward, General
Wood rode up to the head of the column, accompanied by one of
his Brigade Commanders, with his brigade colors, but without
any troops, who dashed ahead ; but the colors of the Ninety-
Second with Company F were already flying through the valley,
two miles ahead of Wood's Brigade Commander. General
Wood told the Colonel that he must go to Rossville with the
Ninety-Second, and not send any of his troops into the town ; but
was pointed to the column of dust in the valley creeping rapidly
toward Chattanooga, and told that the advance of the Ninety-
Second would be in the town within five minutes. At ten o'clock
A. M. of September gth, 1863, the flag of the Ninety-Second
was waving over the Crutchfield House, the first Union flag to
wave in Chattanooga, as General Rosecrans had predicted, not-
withstanding Wood's efforts to detain the Regiment. The
remainder of the Regiment broke into a gallop at the foot of the
mountain, and was soon in Chattanooga. Scouts were sent out
on all the roads. Two companies went as far as Rossville, skir-
mishing with the Rebels falling back. Negroes and citizens
were brought to the Colonel, and the completest information
gathered regarding the evacuation, and an account of a rumor
among negroes and whites that Bragg was to be reinforced from
the Rebel army in front of Richmond, and give Rosecrans
battle shortlv, sent, by special courier, to General Rosecrans. At
twelve o'clock, General Crittenden arrived in Chattanooga. At
one o'clock, having rested horses and men in the railroad depot
at Chattanooga, the Ninety-Second was preparing, as ordered to
do, to return and report to General Rosecrans in Trenton valley,
when General Crittenden sent for the Colonel, and commanded
him to proceed with his Regiment to the mouth of the Chica-
mauga, north-east of Chattanooga, and drive away the enemy, so
that Colonel Wilder, with the balance of the brigade, could cross
the Tennessee there. The Regiment moved at once, under the
lot NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
orders of General Crittenden, driving the enemy easily, and the
advance reached the mouth of the creek just before dark, and
found Colonel Wilder already crossing. The Regiment camped
nine miles north of Chattanooga, in the Chicamauga valley, on a
grape plantation. Forage was abundant for the animals ; and the
huge wine cellars in the ample barn contained abundance of the
purest and best Catawba wine. There were many temperance
men in the Regiment, who did not try the wine ; but there were
also many men who did try it, and the camp was a jolly one. On
the next morning, the tenth, with forage bags full of forage, and
canteens full of Catawba, the Ninety-Second was preparing to
march back through Chattanooga, and report to General Rose-
crans, when Colonel Wilder ordered the Regiment to march
with the brigade, which it did, on the road to Ringgold, and
camped with Wilder's brigade at Grey ville, where a Rebel mail
was captured, and merry times had at the brigade head-quarters,
reading the letters of the Rebel soldiers to their families and
sweethearts. During the night, Colonel Wilder received orders
to send the Ninety-Second to report to General Rosecrans, at
Lafayette ; and the Regiment pushed out at daylight, in advance
of the brigade, and soon struck the Rebel pickets, and, about a
a mile north of Ringgold, found the enemy in force. The Regi-
ment was dismounted, and formed in line of battle on the edge of
a field, the enemy forming a line mounted, at the same time, on
the opposite side of the field. The Ninety-Second had scarcely
formed, when the enmy's line, about five hundred strong, moved
out at walk, and, entering a depression in the field, were lost
to sight ; they soon came in sight again, and broke into a trot, and
then a charge ; but they were hotly received, the entire Regiment
fighting coolly, and the three Spencer companies greatly aided
in pouring in a fire the enemy could not stand ; and they wavered,
broke, and retreated, leaving thirteen of their dead upon the field.
Only four were wounded in the Ninety-Second, all of Company
F: Sergeant Harvey Ferrin, Corporal Eben C- Winslow, private
George E. Marl, and private Frederick Petermier, whose horse
was killed, his gun-stock shattered into fragments, and he caught
a flattened Rebel bullet in his wallet. In an instant, there was
a yell from a Rebel reinforcing column that had come up from
Ringgold, and the line we had turned back reformed, and, re-
inforced, commenced a second charge. Just at this instant.
Colonel Wilder came up, with Captain Lilly, of the brigade bat-
tery, and two guns, and Lillv unlimbered under the enemy's fire,
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 103
and sent his shell screaming up the road. Lilly was a dashing
soldier, and a splendid artilleryist, and his shots were always sent
to the right spot. Hardly had the reverberation of his first two
shots died away, when he heard two answering shots, but no
shell came toward us. The charging Rebel column halted.
Lilly worked his guns lively, for five or six rounds, and the
answering shots came regularly, but it was evident that no one
was firing at us. Wilder ordered the Regiment forward, and for-
ward it went, Wilder himself in the middle of the road, on the
skirmish line, revolver in hand, and telling the boys both sides of
the road : " Dress on me, boys." But Wilder and Companies F
and E, in the advance, pushed so rapidly that the Regiment on
foot could not keep up, and it was mounted and pushed after the
advance, but did not come up to it until Ringgold was reached,
where we learned that General Van Cleve, with his division of
infantry, had approached Ringgold, on the Rossville road, and it
was his guns we had heard. Forrest made lively time through
Ringgold Gap, and narrowly escaped capture with one ot his
brigades. Anticipating that the road to Lafayette was held by
the enemy, a scout was sent out, and soon returned with the
information that the road was held by the gray-coats in strong
force. A quantity of corn in bags was captured at the depot in
Ringgold, and with two feeds in forage sacks, the Ninety-Second
again left the brigade, and took the road to Rossville.' When a
few miles from Ringgold, and just as the advance was descending
a wooded hill, considerable commotion was observed in the val-
ley below. With a glass a Union wagon train was seen going
into camp ; and on a road south of the wagon train, running at
right angles with the road the Ninety-Second was marching on,was
observed a considerable column of Rebel cavalry. The citizens
said there were seven hundred Rebels. The artillery was unlim-
bered and placed in position, and the Regiment dismounted;
when the Rebels, with a yell, charged on the camp of the unsus-
pecting Yankee teamsters. The Rebels did not anticipate the
reception the Ninety-Second gave them ; and as our artillery and
musketry opened, they turned about and left, without capturing
a wagon, or firing more than a few pistol shots at the Ninety-
Second. Captain Hawk, with two companies, followed the
Rebels about two miles. The march was resumed ; and along
the road were found, every now and then, a Rebel soldier claim-
ing to be a deserter from Bragg's army; and, bv orders from
General Rosecrans, they were not arrested, but told to go on their
104 NINETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
way home. It was apparent to every soldier in the Ninety-
Second that these straggling Rebels were spies, and not deserters ;
they were clean, well clad, in good health, and, in general intelli-
gence, the brightest soldiers of the rank and file of the Rebel
army. Such men are not often deserters; it is the ill-clad, unwell,
down-hearted, home-sick men who desert their colors. But
orders were orders; and these straggling Rebels were left unmo-
lested, to watch the movements of the Union troops on every
road ; and they must have been terribly puzzled to understand the
marching and countermarching of the columns they looked upon.
The infatuation of a Union General, who, by published orders,
invited his enemy to fill his camp with spies, has ever remained
a mystery. The Regiment camped at Rossville after dark. The
Colonel, confident that General Rosecrans was not in Lafayette,
sent an officer, at daybreak the next morning, to learn if Rose-
crans was in Chattanooga, and waited until nine o'clock; and,
receiving no information, the Ninety-Second took the Lafayette
road, from Rossville south, and struck the Rebel picket, which
fell back, without fighting, at Gordon's Mill, about one o'clock
P. M. The advance was halted at the Mill, and horses fed from
a cornfield, and a feed of corn put into forage bags; and as the
Regiment was preparing to move forward, an orderly, from
General Rosecrans, rode up with orders to the Colonel to send
his Regiment to the foot of Lookout Mountain, on the Summer-
town road, and report in person for further orders to General-
Rosecrans, in Chattanooga; it thereby becoming apparent that
the Regiment could not report to him in Lafayette. Before the
Regiment could take the road, it was filled with a division of
infantry marching south, that found its journey southward im
peded by a heavy force of Rebel infantry, just beyond Gordon's
Mill ; so strong, indeed, that no troops under Rosecrans ever
marched any farther south on that road. As soon as the road
was cleared of the infantry division, the Ninety-Second retraced
its march to Rossville, and on to the foot of Lookout Mountain.
The Colonel rapidly rode to Chattanooga, and was ordered bv
General Rosecrans to open communication with General George
H. Thomas, somewhere on the top of Lookout Mountain, south
of Chattanooga. An hour before sundown, the Colonel returned,
and the men dismounted, and, leading their horses, began the
toilsome ascent of Lookout Mountain, the head of the column
reaching the summit near dark. A storm had come up, and !he
rain poured down in torrents. The Regiment on the mountain
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 105
top was enveloped in the clouds, that seemed to sweep the very
ground. A guide was pressed into service, and leaving a squad
of men belonging to Company K, as a courier post at Summer-
town, the Regiment pushed along down the top of the mountain
in the storm and darkness, establishing frequent courier stations
with the men of Company K, until all of that company were on
such duty, and then with the men of Company C, exhausting
that company also. It was a tedious march; the storm, con-
tinuous, and the darkness so thick it could be felt; the animals
and men weary, and many of the men would fall asleep upon
their horses. It was a rough road, and the artillery was contin-
ually falling in rear. The head of the column would halt; and
when the artillery closed up in rear, the Commander of the
Artillery would cry out, " Artillery closed up;" and it would be
taken up by the officers along the line, until the head of the col-
umn was informed, when it would push along, feeling its way in
the darkness. During these halts, many of the exhausted men
laid down by the road-side; and when the column started, their
horses would keep their places in the ranks ; but it was so dark
that their companions could not tell whether the horses had riders
or not, until they found the saddles empty in the morning. At
three A. M., the picket of General Thomas halted the column.
The Regiment went into bivouac: and the Colonel, accompanied
by Major Lawver, proceeded to General Thomas's head-quarters
to deliver his dispatches, which he accomplished at four o'clock
A. M. on September twelfth, and by six o'clock A. M. of that day,
had returned a letter twenty-five miles over the courier line, and
placed it in the hands of General Rosecrans, at Chattanooga. At
nine A. M., the exhausted men were roused; and an hour after-
ward, the Regiment moved down off from Lookout Mountain to
the east, by Cooper's Gap, leaving Companies K and C on cou-
rier duty, and they did not join the Regiment again until long
after the battle of Chicamauga. Details were sent out for forage,
and the Regiment rested at the foot of Cooper's Gap. On the
thirteenth, the Regiment moved farther into the valley, and
camped at Pond Spring. On the fourteenth, the Ninety-Second
moved at daylight, with orders to scout along the north-west side
of the Chicamauga River, and open communication with Gene-
ral Crittenden at Crawfish Springs, and inform General Critten-
den of the position of the Union troops. Every road and
path crossing the Chic miauga was found picketed by the Rebel
pickets; reached Crawfish Springs at eleven o'clock, and came
13
io6 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
very near being fired upon by the Union infantry there encamped,
who insisted that the Rebels had been seen a little while before
on the road by which the Regiment approached; learned that
Crittenden had marched toward Lookout Mountain ; rested half
an hour, and fed our animals. A strong scouting party was sent
back to Pond Spring, by the road just marched over, and the
Regiment followed on the road Crittenden had taken. The
scouting party found the Rebel videttes occupying the same sta-
tions as before, at every crossing and path over the Chicamauga,
and the woods full of Rebel soldiers, claiming to be deserters
from the Rebel army, which they depicted as in full retreat.
Orders were obeyed, and they were not molested. Three roads
were found over which Bragg's forces had moved from Chatta-
nooga, evidencing the fact that he had deployed his army south
and east of the Chicamauga. If in full retreat, with the abundant
leisure at Bragg's disposal, his columns would not move by di-
visions over unfrequented roads, leading nowhere except into the
dense forests south and east of the Chicamauga. Crittenden's
command was found, while it was halting for a rest, at about two
o'clock P. M. The Colonel had been directed to explain to Gene-
ral Crittenden the position of the Union troops, and did so ; and
informed him that everv road and path across the Chicamauga
was held by the enemy. General Crittenden very testily replied
that there was no enemy between him and Lafayette. He found
out for himself afterward, and to his cost. The Regiment re-
turned to Pond Spring, and the result of the scout was officially
reported. During the night, the Colonel was ordered to deliver a
sealed letter to General Crittenden, from General Rosecrans, and
he detailed a Corporal and four men to carry it ; the Corporal
found General Crittenden's head-quarters, at four o'clock A. M.
on the fifteenth, but at first, was refused permission to deliver his
dispatch, as General Crittenden had ordered that his slumbers
must not be disturbed. But the Corporal persisted, and delivered
his letter to the General in person while Crittenden was Iving in
bed; and, by insisting upon it, received from him a written receipt
for the package, which was returned to the Colonel. During the
fifteenth and sixteenth, the Regiment lay in camp at Pond Spring,
sending scouting parties, as ordered, in every direction, except
across the Chicamauga. That was a locality not comfortable to
scout in; and it appeared as if there was no anxiety to learn any-
thing about its topography, or who occupied it. Just at dark, on
the sixteenth, General Rosecrans and staff rode by the camp, and
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 107
there soon came an order to the Colonel to report to General Rose-
crans, at the head-quarters of General Reynolds, and the Colonel
did so, when General Rosecrans demanded to know why his
dispatch to General Crittenden, on the evening of the fourteenth,
had not been promptly delivered; and he was informed that it was
promptly delivered at Crittenden's head-quarters before daylight
the next morning, and Crittenden's receipt was handed to General
Rosecrans. He then sent for the Corporal who delivered it, and
inquired of him all the particulars, as to where and at what time
his orders to Crittenden were delivered. The Colonel detailed all
the iniormation the Regiment had obtained scouting. Generals
Rosecrans, Thomas, McCook, Reynolds, Baird and others were
present. The Colonel expressed it as his opinion that Bragg was
in force in the immediate front, when McCook, even more testily
than Crittenden had before done, replied that there was no enemy
to amount to anything between them and Lafayette ; that he could
march his command into Lafayette without the loss of five men.
Alas, for McCook! he learned for himself, too, afterward, and not
wholly to the credit of h,is sagacity or generalship. General
Thomas quietly, but very persistently and patiently, inquired about
the topography of the country the Ninety-Second had scouted over,
the roads and bridges across the Chicamauga, and listened
silently and attentively to the detail of all that the Ninety-Second
had learned regarding the country or the enemy. On the morn-
ing of the seventeenth, Company E, Captain Van Buskirk, was
ordered to report to General J. B. Turchin, whose brigade made a
reconnoissance to the foot of Pidgeon Mountain, at Dug Gap,
where he found the enemy in strong force, and fought desperately
all day. The Regiment was ordered out also, and spent the day
in scouting around the flanks of Turchin's command, finding a
considerable body of Rebel cavalry on his right flank. While
Company E was holding the valley road, on Turchin's right, a
heavy column of dust was observed approaching from the south.
McCook was expected from that direction ; and, after barricading
the road, not desiring to fire into our troops, Corporal Henry
Schlosser, of Company E, of Forreston, was sent up the road waiv-
ing his handkerchief. He was taken prisoner, and died in Ander-
sonville grave 2,585. While taking back the horses, private
Charles H. Giles, of Company E, of Baileyville, was instantly
killed. The enemy charged the barricade held by Company E, but
did not take it. John Evans, private Company E, of Polo, was
wounded. At sundown the fighting ceased, and the Regiment
io8 NINBTr-SECOND ILLINOIS.
went into camp on the old ground at Pond Spring. Charles H.
Giles was the first man killed in the Regiment. He was buried
that night near Pond Spring, by the light of fat pine torches, with
appropriate ceremonies by the Chaplain. On the eighteenth, the
Regiment remained in camp most ot the day. The men had noth-
ing to eat except green corn, and the animals nothing at all. A
few scouting parties were sent out. At two P. M., learning that
the brigade train was a few miles up the valley, the Regiment
marched to the train and drew three days' rations and one day's
forage, and returned to camp at Pond Spring. At daylight, on
September nineteenth, the Regiment was in the saddle, and
marched slowly with the infantry columns on the road toward
Gordon's and Chattanooga. At eight o'clock, the artillery and
musketry firing by a portion of Thomas's corps became heavy and
continuous. About ten o'clock A. M. the Ninety-Second was
ordered into line near Widow Glenn's house, where General Rose-
crans made his head-quarters. A soldier writes: " A man came
along and asked, ' What regiment is this in line here?' I answered,
' The Ninety-Second Illinois, Wilder's Brigade.' ' That is good,'
said the man. I turned and looked at him, and saw the buttons
in groups of three on his coat, his shoulder-straps being hidden by
a common cavalry overcoat. When he says, looking at the men
coming out of the woods in front of the Regiment, ' What men
are those coming up there?' I said, 'I am told that is Hazen's
Brigade.' He then inquired rapidly, ' What does it mean? Where
is that fighting? How long has it been going on? What troops
are engaged? How far is that from here? What does that dust
mean? What does it mean?' To these questions I answered as
promptly and definitely as I knew how, for I saw I was in the
presence of the General commanding. He gave directions to his
men to open the road in the rear, and to establish his head-quarters
at the house, and immediately up went a field telegraph line." In
a few minutes General Rosecrans ordered the Regiment to throw
down the fence in its front and on the farther side of the field,
which was done, and the Regiment remained there about an hour,
when orders came from General Reynolds to move farther toward
the left, and the Regiment mounted and galloped up the road a
mile or more, and found General Reynolds, who ordered it into a
thick piece of woods. The men dismounted and held their horses,
and stray bullets from the Rebels rattled over the Regiment, cut-
ting the leaves on the trees. After some time the Regiment was
ordered to cross to the west side of the road, and go beyond a hill,
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS, 109
and hitch the horses in the woods, out of danger, and return dis-
mounted, General Reynolds saying that all his troops were hotly
engaged, and that the Ninety-Second was his only reserve. The
Regiment soon dismounted, hitched their horses to the trees, and
marched back to General Reynolds, who was found on a hill
having himself crossed to the west side of the road, and the Ninety-
Second was directed to reinforce King's brigade of Reynolds' di-
vision, and the Regiment marched down the hill, and just before
crossing the road at the foot of the hill the troops of King's brig-
ade came out of the woods beyond, in disorder and retreating.
General Reynolds ordered the Ninety-Second to return to the top
of the hill and form in line. The order was executed with difficulty
under the straggling fire of the enemy, the men obeying orders
and falling into line while the soldiers of King's broken brigade,
in full retreat, poured through the Regiment and by its flanks, pur-
sued by the gray-coated Rebels. The Ninety-Second poured into
the enemy a heavy fire, which halted the Rebel advance at the
edge of the timber at the farther side of the open field and across
the road : but they kept up a light fire for a little while, from the
timber, and then they came out in a long line of battle, stretching
far beyond both flanks of the Ninety-Second, and again the cool
fire of the Regiment, and a battery of artillery on its left, sent the
enemy in their immediate front back to the cover of the timber
across the road; but the flanks were being enveloped, and the
Ninety-Second could not alone repulse the yelling gray -coats, who
had just broken the line of King's entire brigade, and, flushed with
victory, were pressing forward their steady line of battle, and the
Ninety-Second was ordered to fall back to the horses and mount.
It was but the work of a moment, and the Regiment was soon be-
yond the range of the Rebel infantry. The loss in this engage-
ment was: In Company A, Lieutenant William Cox, wounded;
Sergeant Legrand M. Cox, severely wounded. In Company B,
Sergeant William F.Campbell, wounded; private John D. Mc-
Sherry, killed; private James J. Guthrie, wounded; private Edgar
S. Lent, wounded. Company C, private James T. Halleck, killed.
Company D, private Charles J. Reed, killed; private Jacob M.
Snyder, wounded. Company E, private John Donohue, mortally
wounded; private Coates L. Wilson, mortally wounded ; private
John J. Thompson, severely wounded ; private Jacob Sellers,
killed. Company G, Lieutenant William McCammons, severely
wounded; private James Foreman, wounded; Corporal Joseph B.
Train, wounded ; private Ernest Koller, wounded ; private Nathan
no NINBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
Corning, killed. Company H, Sergeant Roster J. Preston, killed ;
Sergeant John M. Hendricks, severely wounded; private William
S. Harlin, mortally wounded; private Cyrus Eyster, wounded.
Company!, Sergeant William H. Price, wounded ; Corporal James
A. Colehour, wounded ; Corporal James A. Bigger, killed.
There were many horses lost, not by Rebel shot, however, but
taken by the straggling infantry, while the Ninety-Second was
absent from them. The Regiment never dismounted after that,
without leaving a guard with their horses. Once out of range of
the enemy, the query arose of what to do. The Regiment was
without orders, and many troops were streaming off toward Chat-
tanooga; but the Ninety-Second was not demoralized by its effort
to retrieve the disaster to King's brigade, although it was .a fruit-
less effort, and the Regiment had met with loss. The Regi-
ment sought the left flank of the troops of the enemy that had
broken through the Union lines, in the gap left when King's
brigade was pushed back, found it, passed by it, and in its rear,
and found Wilder's brigade, and went into line of battle on Wil-
der's left, filling a part of the very gap made by the Union repulse,
where the Regiment lay in line of battle all night, listening to
the agonizing cries of the wounded calling for water; and, before
daylight, on the twentieth, was stretched out in line of battle on
horseback, to hold Wilder's brigade front, while the balance
of the brigade went back a mile or more, and formed in line on
the right of McCook's corps, on a range of hills. When it grew
light, the enemy was seen along the front, and there was a little
skirmishing, but the firing gradually ceased, and the Rebels ven-
tured out into the open field in _our front, to pick up their
wounded. The men of the Ninety-Second saw them carrying
them back, and had no heart to fire upon them while engaged in
such a work. Wilder had been charged by the gray-coats several
times, over that open field, the day before, and his Spencers had
punished them severely. Wilder's brigade was invincible; it
never failed to repulse a charge, and never was repulsed when
charging. Not long after sunrise, a heavy column of Rebel
troops, in column of regiments, was observed passing by the left
flank of the Ninety-Second, moving very slowly, making not a
sound, unaccompanied by an officer on horseback, and frequently
halting, as the light skirmish line in front of them would halt.
Information was sent to McCook, who irritably denied the truth-
fulness of the information. Little by little, the gray-coated
soldiers of the enemy, and, as silently as darkness, crept along.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. rn
It was said to be Longstreet's corps. Their skirmish line was
but lightly engaged; but the heavy column of the enemy, some-
times dropping down on the ground, concealed in the corn-field,
or by the thick underbrush, slowly, steadily pushed t9ward Mc-
Cook's left. Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, of the Ninety-Second,
was sent to see McCook in person, and saw him, detailing to him
the information, and was most abruptly and ungraciously received
by McCook. The Ninety-Second could make no impression by
attacking such a dense mass of the enemy; nor could it do so
without positive disobedience to orders, by leaving the position it
was assigned to hold. The Rebel column was far off on its left
flank, and had far passed it, and McCook was again informed of
the coming avalanche, but he would not heed the information, or
do what he might easily have done, push out a few regiments of
his own troops, and demonstrate the truthfulness, or otherwise, of
the information repeatedly sent him. Hours passed by, and then
that quiet, creeping, heavy column of Rebel regiments sprang
upon the left of McCook's corps with a yell, and with irresistible
force. Although McCook had been repeatedly informed of the
approach of that column of the enemy in such overwhelming
power, it was a perfect surprise to him. In less than ten minutes
his left was irretrievably lost, and the amazed and astonished
General looked on helplessly, his corps broken into fragments,
and floating off from the battle-field in detachments and squads,.
like flecks of foam upon a stream. The eight companies of the
Ninety-Second, on horseback, were scattered out in a thin line,
covering a brigade front, the men only in talking distance of each
other, and were the only advanced troops in front of McCook, and
were really in front of the right of his corpse; and the charge of
that column was the signal for the whole Rebel line to advance,
and the Ninety-Second had to fall back rapidly, to avoid being
enveloped, and it joined Wilder's brigade, that was on the right
of McCook. Colonel Wilder, from the hills McCook had occu-
pied, saw the long column of Rebel regiments, and instantly
conceived the bold idea of charging through the very center of
the Rebel column, taking it in flank, and pushing for Thomas, on
the left. He was just the man to have led such a desperate
charge. He had five regiments, and a splendid battery, four
regiments armed with the Spencer Repeating Rifle, and the
Ninety-Second, with three companies of Spencers. He intended
to form two regiments front in line of battle, with opening for the
battery, a regiment on each flank in column, and the Ninety-Second
ii2 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
in line'of battle in rear of the battery ; and the Ninety-Second was
just moving to take its place in this desperate charging column,
when Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, rode up to
Wilder, and ordered him not to make the attempt, and positively
ordered Wilder to withdraw to Chattanooga, on the Dry Valley
road. Wilder was daring and desperate ; Dana, a coward and an
imbecile; and but for Dana's order, the gallant Wilder would
have undertaken that desperate charge, and would have succeeded
in joining Thomas with a portion of his gallant brigade. Gath-
ering up the artillery McCook's corps had abandoned, and, proba-
bly, a hundred ambulances of wounded, Wilder lingered until
nearly night; then sullenly retired, followed by Forrest's cavalry,
and, long after dark on the twentieth, bivouaced a mile south of
the Summertown road, about five miles south of Chattanooga, in
the shadow of Lookout Mountain. It is not the province of the
Publication Committee of the Ninety-Second to write the com-
plete history of that battle; the foregoing is but a fragment for the
use of some future American Macaulay.
Doctor Clinton Helm, Surgeon of the Ninety-Second, re-
mained upon the battle-field, caring for the wounded, until he was
taken prisoner, and, as a prisoner, for two weeks longer attended
to the wounded Union soldiers upon the battle-field of Chica-
mauga, when he was marched, with about fifty other Yankee
Surgeons, to Ringgold. From there he was taken by cars to
Richmond, Virginia, and, on the tenth of October, was confined
in Libby Prison. On the twenty-fourth of November, he was ex-
changed, and returned to the Regimental Pulaski, Tennessee.
At sunrise of the twenty-first, the Regiment was in the saddle,
and, finding the brigade supply train at the foot of the Summer-
town road, drew rations, and marched through Chattanooga,
crossed the pontoons to the north side of the river, marched to a
point opposite the mouth of the Chicamauga, and bivouaced. On
the twenty-second, light fortifications, facing the river, were
thrown up. On the twenty-third, the Regiment marched to Har-
rison's Landing, and went into camp, with orders to picket the
Tennessee as far north as the Hiwassee, as the only dependence
for rations to feed the army at Chattanooga were wagon trains
over the mountains, on the north side of the river from Bridge-
port, and well-grounded fears were entertained that the enemy
would cross parties of light troops to the north side of the river,
and put an embargo on the' Yankee cracker line. They did cross,
and .burned three hundred wagons loaded with rations, in the Se
NINETY -SECOND ILLINOIS. 113
quatchie valley ; but did not cross at any point guarded by the
Ninety-Second Regiment. They crossed farther up the Tennes-
see, where the crossing was better. Our picket line was so long
that, frequently, a Corporal and three men did picket duty for days
in succession, at important river crossings, without being relieved .
It often happened that not a well man was in camp for days to-
gether, except the field officers, the Chaplain, and Assistant Sur-
geon ; and not all of them remained in camp, for some of them
would go galavanting around the country, visiting the secesh las-
sies! The Committee on Publication do not feel inclined to tell
who those galavanting officers were, except that the gay and
festive Major was, probably, not among them, and that Chaplain
Cartright was. The Committee have concluded to give an
account of one of the Chaplain's visits : The Major, out riding
for health one afternoon, passed a Tennessee palace, not far from
camp, where he observed one of the beautiful lassies of that beau-
tiful country engaged in the romantic occupation of coloring
home-made cotton cloth butternut color, a chemical metamor-
phosis which is accomplished by boiling butternut bark in water,
in large kettles, and dipping the cloth into the liquor procured by
such boiling. It may be remarked here, that from time imme-
morial, in all of those countries where cotton is the staple crop,
and butternut, or black-walnut trees are found (and they probably
are found in every climate where cotton will grow), this peculiar
butternut colored cloth is the almost universal dress of male and
female; although the same material, colored by some mysterious
process, indigo-blue is preferred by the female race. It frequently
happened that this outward garment of cotton cloth, colored
butternut or indigo-blue, was the only garment worn by the
mountain nymphs. O ! how divinely it did set off " the female
form divine," tied with a cotton string around the waist! The
Major was an observing officer; and, one afternoon, at Harrison's
Landing, at the Tennessee palace we have mentioned, he ob-
served, in the yard, a mountain sprite engaged in the romantic
occupation of coloring fabrics, in the manner described; and,
riding into camp, he nervously inquired for Doctor Winston, and,
not finding him, sent his Orderly to find the Doctor, and tell him
that a woman was " dying," at he house near the camp. The
Chaplain met the Orderly, and learned the message he was to
deliver; and the Chaplain charged away for the house, hallooing,
as he went, " Doctor Winston, Doctor Winston! there is a woman
'dying' over there!" The Doctor joined the Chaplain one to
14
n 4 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
administer drugs, and the other spiritual advice and they were
soon at the house indicated. They inquired after the woman who
was " dying," and were referred to Sally, in the yard ! The
Chaplain saw the point ; and when he returned to camp, he shook
his head, saving: " Major, Major, you are a hard case." But it
is believed, by all the members of the Regiment, that Doctor
Winston has not yet seen the point! The enemy occupied their
old position, on the opposite bank of the Tennessee; but there
was no picket firing. The men would talk across the river, and
good-naturedly joke each other about the progress of the war.
One day, a soldier known by the knick-name of " Mother" (the
soldiers of the Ninety-Second will remember him) swam the
Tennessee River, and had a combat with the Johnnies, and then
swam back again. On Sunday, the twenty-seventh, the gray-
coats having invjted some of the men across, they went over, and
enjoyed a visit with their enemies, and returned the courtesy by
inviting them to our side of the river; and quite a squad accepted
the invitation, and took a cup of coffee with the Yanks. The
men of both armies, deadly enemies in battle, would lay aside
all feeling, and, with a perfect abandon, spin camp yarns for the
entertainment of each other On the fourth of October, wagons
were sent eighty miles up the Tennessee River, after forage for
the animals. The men were then living on parched corn, and
the horses on the little handfuls of grass the men could pull for
them along the river's edge. On the ninth, a few wagons arrived
from Bridgeport, with a light supply of rations and clothing. On
the thirteenth, the wagons returned from the cornfields of East
Tennessee, with light loads of corn, the most of their loads hav-
ing been consumed by the mules, on the return march. They
were immediately sent back again for more; and, as the mules
went without eating, on their return march to East Tennessee,
the next time they returned to camp, the teamsters provided
themselves for the return march after forage, by hiding corn in
the woods before reaching camp, and only a few bushels of corn
were left to a wagon. Sqme of the horses were dying of starva-
tion, and all like Don Quixote's famous steed. The rain had
poured down in torrents for days together. On the evening of
the eighteenth, Jefferson Davis took his supper at a. house on the
other side of the river, within sight of our camp. He was visit-
ing Bragg's army, to quell dissentions among his troops. On the
twenty-second, a man in Company D accidentally shot himself
through his leg. On the twenty-fourth, Colonel Smith's brigade
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. n$
of infantry arrived. On the twenty-fifth, William Boddy, of
Company A, came near feeding the fishes of the Tennessee with
his body; while out hunting for forage, he crossed to an island in
the river, and, returning in a little skiff, he disrobed, and, on top
of the forage, essayed to guide his frail bark from the island to
the river bank, when the skiff capsized, and Boddy's body, with
forage and clothing, went into the water. Boddy thought more of
his body than he did of the apparel for his body ; and while his
body covering floated down the Tennessee, Boddy brought his
body out all right; and then, like a Modock Chief, with an army
blanket gracefully draping his body, Boddy rode ten miles to
camp. The pouring rains had nearly drowned out the men ; and
on the twenty-sixth, camp was moved to higher ground. The
hills were covered with chestnut trees, and the trees with chest-
nuts; and to gather them, hundreds of trees were cut down.
They helped along the rations, which, being principally parched
corn, needed helping along. On the morning of the twenty-
seventh, the Regiment took up its line of march for Bridgeport,
being relieved of duty at Harrison's Landing by Smith's brigade;
crossed Walden's Ridge at Poe's Tavern, and camped in the Se-
quathie valley, near Dunlap. Marched at daylight down the
Sequatchie valley twenty-two miles; the roads were very much cut
up by trains ; fences all burned ; houses deserted ; the ruins of three
hundred Yankee wagons, burned by Forrest, lining the road; the
contrast, since first marching in the valley, was most wonderful;
in a day's march, nothing but ruin was seen-, either animal or
man, except lazy buzzards; nothing for men or animals to eat;
camped near Jasper. Marched at daylight on the twenty-ninth,
and, seven miles from Bridgeport, passed through the camps of
Hooker's troops from the Potomac, well dressed, all with corps
badges and paper collars, and much style! The horses of the
Ninety-Second could scarcely crawl along empty corn-cribs!
The men were unwell from their lack of rations and hard duty,
and their clothing worn out and ragged. Some thoughtless Po-
tomac soldiers commenced to jibe the men of the Ninety-Second,
and it required an effort on the part of the officers to keep the
boys from replying with their Spencers. Men who are ragged
from hard service, and emaciated for the want of food, do not like
to be jibed. Reached Bridgeport at two o'clock, and drew
forage and rations, and went into camp. On the thirty-first
of October, the Regiment was mustered for pay at Bridgeport.
On November fifth, the Colonel, with a detail, went to Stevenson,
n6 N1NETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
to draw Spencers for the seven companies still armed with En-
fields; but was informed, by Captain Horace Porter, Ordinance
Officer, that the Spencers were in Nashville. On the sixth, the
Colonel, by order of General Thomas, took a detail of one hun-
dred and thirty men, and proceeded by cars to Nashville, to
procure horses, mules, and Spencers, leaving the Ninety-Second
in command of Lieutenant Colonel Sheets, the Regiment re-
maining at Bridgeport. A soldier, in an old letter written from
Bridgeport on the eleventh, said : " On the morning of the
twenty-seventh of October, by order of General Thomas, we left
Harrison's Landing for this place, making it in three days, over
the worst roads I have ever seen. This is the third time we have
crossed Walden's Ridge, or mountain ; and if the weather con-
tinues as it has been for the last three' weeks, it will have to be
pontooned before we can cross it again. Our transportation
arrived, after a struggle of ten days through the mud, the distance
being just sixty miles. Our object, or rather the object of Gene-
ral Thomas, in ordering us to this point, is for the purpose of
giving us a more complete outfit; and at present writing, Colonel
Atkins, with one hundred and thirty men and officers, is at Nash-
ville, procuring Spencers, horses, and saddles, and all the traps
pertaining to completeness. The remainder of*the Regiment are
to recruit up the animals on hand, that have of late become mag-
nificently transparent. We have them tied to the trees with
trace-chains and sich, for the reason that they have eaten up all
the picket ropes and halters, and have turned in to eating each
other's manes and tails. The mules have fared some better than
the horses, but not much; not having any tails or manes, they
have lost their ears, ornaments indispensable to a mule's beauty.
There is not a tree within a mile of this camp that the horses
or mules have not gnawed off the bark; they work at it like so
many beavers felling timber. Last night, they all commenced
gnawing the trees at once ; and the Chief of Scouts said : ' The
cars are coming ; don't you hear them ?' ' No,' said I ; ' that is
the horses and mules grinding bark. 1 ' Why,' he said; ' what are
we grinding bark for?' I replied, 'Going to tan the hides of
them animals before spring.' And the Chief of Scouts replied,
'O, O; I see it.'
" If he dies, I'll tan his skin
And if he don't, I'll ride him again."
On November thirteenth, drew soft bread for the first time since
leaving Dechard. The fifteenth, ordered to march at daylight the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 117
sixteenth, but order was countermanded, and two companies sent
on a scout south of the Tennessee. On the seventeenth, marched
at nine A. M., by command of Major General Stanley, and went
into camp on south side of Tennessee River, two miles from
Bridgeport. On the eighteenth, there were very strict orders for
every one to remain in camp, and two roll-calls daily. On the
next day, fixed up camp for a long stay. On the twentieth, the
detail that went to Nashville returned, with a fresh supply of
horses and mules, the Colonel remaining to draw the Spencers.
On the twenty-second, a lot of Rebel prisoners passed camp, going
to the rear. On the twenty-third, more Rebel prisoners passed
by, ragged, and some actually barefooted, and the weather so cold
that ice strong enough to hold a man up had formed over the
puddles of water. Day by day passed, lying in camp, and doing
scouting duty for General Stanley. On December second, marched
at noon ; crossed the Tennessee on pontoons at Bridgeport, and
camped five miles west on the Stevenson road, at Widow's Creek
rails, for fires, plenty. Marched early, arriving at Caperton's
Ferry at noon, and found fine quarters, log buildings erected by
Colonel Watkins's regiment. On the fourth, Company E, Cap-
tain Van Buskirk, that had been on duty, with General Cruft, re-
turned to the Regiment. The company reported to General Cruft
at Wauhatchie, and acted as body-guard and dispatch-bearers.
On the day of the battle of Lookout Mountain, Company E did
good service in bearing dispatches, and especially in furnishing
the infantry line of battle with ammunition, bringing up the am-
murfition boxes on horseback and distributing it to the infantry.
The company also took part in the battle of Missionary Ridge,
and the night after the battle guarded the Rebel prisoners ; and
marched with General Cruft's command to Ringgold. The con-
duct of Company E won special commendation in the official re-
port of General Cruft.
Companies K and C, that were left on courier duty on Look-
out Mountain, September eleventh, returned to the Regiment at
Caperton's Ferry. A soldier, a member of Company K, has
written his recollections of the services of those two companies,
while absent from the Regiment, as follows: "The sun was just
setting behind Lookout's craggy head as the Regiment com-
menced the ascent. In zigzag course, upward they toiled, men
and officers leading the jaded animals. Stumbling over flinty
points, flanking huge boulders, climbing the splintered sides of
ledges, the Regiment scrambled upward till it reached the lofty
n8 NINETr-SECOND ILLINOIS.
summit. The sun had set; there was no moon, and the night was
very dark ; a guide was necessary. A rap at the door of a house
close by brought the occupant out. The light he held in his hand
showed him to be a stout, vigorous mountaineer, of about sixty
years, with iron-gray hair, and a frank face. He said his name
was Foster; he reported himself a Union man, and such he after-
ward proved to be. Well did the old man, in the pitchy darkness,
guide the Regiment along that rough, winding mountain road.
Companies C, Captain Hawk, and K, Captain Woodcock, under
the command of the latter, were detailed for courier duty. A
Sergeant and ten men from Company K were stationed as a cour-
ier post, at Foster's. At points two miles apart along the road
were stationed a like number' of men, Company K covering ten
miles, and Company C fourteen miles. The first streak of dawn
came when the Regiment had completed its task. Both men and
animals, from sheer exhaustion, sank upon the ground in thepro-
foundest slumber. A courier line was formed above the clouds,
on Lookout's lofty summit, over which were sent all the dis-
patches to the army corps of Generals Thomas and McCook. The
views obtained by those left on the mountain were grand. The
boys from the prairies, unaccustomed to such scenes, looked with
wonder and admiration. They could see, in a clear day, into seven
different States: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, North
and South Carolina, and the mountains of West Virginia. At
times the clouds would gather below them, and, silvered by the
sun, resembled great banks of snow; then they would lift from
the valley and float away, opening to view a most beautiful pano-
" rama. For miles about, the country, like a great map, seemed to
lie at their feet, a beautiful scene of mountains, valleys and streams.
For miles the silvery flood of the Tennessee River could be seen
in its winding course. The mountaineers were loyal. They had
been hiding away in the caves and fastnesses of the mountains to
avoid conscription into the ranks of the Rebel armies. They and
their families visited us, the first Yanks they had seen. They
vied with each other in bestowing upon the boys their kindness
sweet potatoes, all kinds of vegetables, ducks, chickens, pies,
cakes, honey, and apple-jack brandy were among their gifts. We
feasted upon the good things of the earth. The boys on the cour-
ier post at Foster's house were especially favored. Mrs. Foster,
an intelligent, kind-hearted, motherly, old lady, took them under
her especial care. She called them her boys.
! ' Five days and nights were thus spent on Lookout
NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS. ,119
Mountain, and are remembered by the members of Compa-
nies C and K as among the most pleasant of their soldier life. At
two o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, the sixteenth, orders
came to take up the courier line at once, and report to General
Rosecrans, at Crawfish Springs. The order was obeyed ; and on
the evening of that day, Captain Woodcock reported to General
Rosecrans with the two companies. On the seventeenth, by
General Rosecrans's order, Captains Woodcock and Hawk formed
a courier line from Chattanooga to Crawfish Springs, along the
base of Lookout, a distance of sixteen miles, both officers remain-
ing with their reserves at the head-quarters of General Rosecrans,
at Widow Glenn's house. Saturday morning, the nineteenth, the
battle of Chicamauga, one of the bloodiest of the war, commenced.
It raged fiercely all day, the earth fairly quaking beneath the
thunder of the artillery and incessant roll of musketry. Captains
Woodcock and Hawk, with their reserves, were engaged in car-
rying dispatches to different points in the field. Sunday, the
twentieth, the battle again raged fiercely. About ten o'clock in
the forenoon, General Rosecrans directed Captain Woodcock to
take up the line and form it from Chattanooga, via Rossville, to
his head-quarters. General Rosecrans said the southern portion
of the line was uncovered by his army, and was liable to be cap-
tured by the enemy, if not at once taken up. Sending orders to
remove the more northerly posts to the Rossville road, Captain
Woodcock hastened to the post at Crawfish Springs. The enemy
was just charging in. They captured one ot the videttes. Some
of the boys, in the confusion, mingled with the Rebels, but suc-
ceeded in escaping. The posts were rescued and formed on the
Rossville road. The line was completed about two o'clock P. M.
Captain Woodcock, with his reserve, moved in the direction of
Widow Glenn's, to report to General Rosecrans. He marched by
crowds of men that, in disorder, were going to the rear; still he
.kept on, until the pattering of bullets warned him to halt. On
looking back, he saw our troops reforming and in line of battle.
Knowing then that he was between the Rebel and Union forces,
he countermarched. He could learn nothing of General Rose-
crans. Meeting General Garfield, he reported to him, who or-
dered him to report to General Thomas. He found General
Thomas, who, as firm as old rock-ribbed Lookout, confronted the
Rebels and held them at bay. During the entire night of that ter-
rible Sabbath, the tall, noble form of General Thomas stood erect,
watching his line, while his staff officers lay around him on the
120 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
ground, worn out and insensible with fatigue. Captain Hawk,
with his reserve, was, during the entire battle, with Rosecrans.
When the right of the army was crushed, the General, followed
by Captain Hawk and his reserve of Company C, dashed along
the broken lines, regardless of shot and shell, endeavoring to rally
the men. Captain Hawk, by the General's order, deployed his
men in the rear of the broken columns, and endeavored to halt the
retreating mass; but it was like attempting to stay the ocean's
tide by throwing pebbles in its way.
" From the twenty-second of September to the eleventh of
October, Companies C and K were employed in carrying dis-
patches to the army surrounding Chattanooga. On the afternoon
of Sunday, the eleventh, orders came to form a courier line from
Chattanooga, north along the summit of Walden's Ridge, to An-
derson's Cross Roads, a distance of twenty-one miles. Companies
C and K were at once stretched out on this line, Captains Hawk
and Woodcock, with their reserves, still remaining with General
Thomas. A famine was in the city. The men were on one-
fourth rations. The boys out along the line were feasting, while
those in town were starving by slow degrees. They cut down the
shade trees and broused their horses from the tops. The horses
becamfe skeletons, many of them laying down their bones in the
streets of Chattanooga. On the ninth of November, by order of
General Thomas, the courier line was removed from Walden's
Ridge, and formed from Chattanooga to Bridgeport. Captain
Hawk, with his reserve, was stationed at Bridgeport. Captain
Woodcock remained with General Thomas. Lieutenant Walker,
of Company K, with a courier post, was stationed at General
Hooker's head-quarters, in Lookout valley. On the twenty-fourth
of November, Hooker fought his battle above the clouds. A por-
tion of Companv K, as couriers, had the honor to participate in
that battle. On the twenty-fifth, was fought the battle of Mis-
sionary Ridge. The reserve at General Thomas's head-quarters
then came in for their share of glory. On the fourth of Decem-
ber, Captains Woodcock and Hawk were relieved, with their com-
panies, from courier duty, and ordered to report to the Regiment.
They found the Regiment at Caperton's Ferry, Alabama, and
were glad once more to be at home. While on the way to report
to the Regiment, as they were crossing Chattanooga Creek, near
Lookout, they met the old guide, Mr. Foster. The old man's
face lighted up as he recognized the men ot the Ninety-Second.
He told his story. It was a sad one. After the battle of Chica-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 121
mauga, Lookout Mountain fell into the hands of the Rebels.
Some designing person reported to the Rebels that the old man
had acted as a guide to the Ninety-Second in forming the courier
line. His Union sentiments were also well known. The Rebels
gave him a mock trial, and sentenced him to be hanged ; and, with
a rope around his neck, they were proceeding to string him up,
when an officer of the Rebel army rushed forward, and, by impor-
tunities and threats, saved the old man's life. The officer had be-
fore taken up his quarters at Mr. Foster's house. The shock to
his wife, and her constant fear on account of her husband, aggra-
vated a disease that afflicted her, and caused her death. The old
mountaineer broke down in the middle of his story. Great sobs
choked his utterance, and he wept like a child."
On the fifth, the McClellan army saddles arrived from Nash-
ville; the Regiment, up to this time, had been using citizens'
saddles of every pattern. Long forage was very scarce, and the
men gathered from the cane-brakes along the Tennessee the cane
leaves, which they brought into camp in bundles, and they looked
like freshly -gathered corn blades, and were eaten with great relish
by the animals. On December seventh, the Colonel returned
from Nashville with the new Spencer Rifles, which were issued,
and the remaining Enfields turned over .to the Ordnance De-
partment. The Regiment was now well mounted, cavalry
equipments complete, and all had Spencers. On the ninth, the
animals began to die, and the trouble seemed general. The
Regimental Horse Doctor was unequal to the occasion, and the
Regimental Surgeon was called upon for a post mortem on the
defunct horses, and the result of his inquest was the information
that the animals were dying from the slivers of the hard center
of the cane leaves they were eating in place of hay, the stomachs
of the defunct animals/being stuck full of these slivers,which had
caused inflammation and death. For once the lazy soldiers, too
lazy to gather the cane leaves for forage for their horses, had the
advantage of the more energetic soldiers. It deserves mention,
for it was the only instance in the three years' service where lazi-
ness was rewarded. The Chief of Cavalry was informed by
telegraph of the result of feeding cane leaves to the animals, and
by telegraphic orders he ordered it discontinued throughout the
Department. For several days the animals continued to die:
there was no remedy. Old Blutcher, the faithful war-horse of
the Lieutenant Colonel, doubtless longed for a furlough to the
well filled barns on the borders of his native Pine Creek, in Ogle
122 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
County, and yielded up the ghost. Major Bohn embalmed
Blutcher's memory in heroic verse, and sang it in a doleful way
to console the Lieutenant Colonel. On Sunday, the thirteenth of
December, the Chaplain dedicated his log chapel, erected by him
and the soldiers who volunteered to assist him. On the evening
of the seventh, the Regimental head-quarters were serenaded,
and there was much speech-making. It was a beautiful evening,
and the music of the band, echoed back by the mountains on the
south side of the Tennessee, was most novel and beautiful. Col-
len Bauden played a few notes of a bugle solo, and alter a while
it would come back, every note clearly and distinctly repeated
over and over again, from the rocky walls of the mountain.
During the night, orders came to march. Our winter quarters,
comfortable log cabins, had to be given up. On December
eighteenth, the Ninety-Second marched to Bridgeport, and re-
ported to Major General Stanley. On Sunday, the twentieth,
the Regiment crossed on the pontoons to the south side of the
Tennessee, marched three miles, and went into camp in a pine
thicket in Hog-Jaw Valley Sus-Maxillary Valley, Lieutenant
Skinner called it. On the twenty-first, Lieutenant William Cox
left for " God's country," on a leave of absence. Captain George
Hicks, of the g6th Illinois, visited the Regiment, and was sere-
naded by the band, and he and many of the officers of the
Ninety-Second were called out for speeches. The men had fixed
themselves up very comfortably with the pine boughs, and chim-
neys to their tents, a la Tennessee, constructed of sticks, plastered
inside and outside with mud. During the night, orders came
for the Ninety-Second to join the brigade at Huntsville, Ala-
bama, and the Regiment marched on the morning of the twentv-
second, camping that night in the old quarters at Caperton's
Ferry. Marched at daylight on the twenty-third, passing through
Stevenson, and making a detour to the north\vard, to avoid the
swollen streams by crossing near their sources, twenty-five miles,
and camped fifteen miles from Stevenson, near Bellefonte
forage for animals in abundance. Marched early, passing through
Scottsboro and Larkinsville. Several of the men were arrested
for shooting hogs, and all the officers of the Regiment were called
up before the Colonel, who lectured them like a Dutch uncle on
their lax discipline. Marched early, and met Colonel Wilder at
Brownsville, Alabama. The men called on the Colonel for a
speech, which was not much in Colonel Wilder 1 s line; but he was
received with great enthusiasm by the Regiment, and expressed
ILLINOIS. 123
his gratification at meeting with the Ninety-Second once more.
Colonel Wilder here received several boxes of Christmas presents
for his regiment, which, not being there, and the eatables liable to
spoil, the Colonel turned them over to the Ninety-Second, and
the boys feasted on the nick-nacks the kind Indiana people had
intended for Colonel Wilder's regiment. Marched twenty-four
miles, camping in a hard rain-storm ; but rails were plenty for
building shelters for the men, and cooking. The Regimental
head-quarters were in a large farm-house, and those at head-
quarters, so inclined, passed the evening in drinking persimmon
beer, a light home-made beverage, prepared from persimmons.
The twenty-sixth of December was cold and stormy. Marched
early, through the beautiful city of Huntsville, and camped on
the south side of the town, a mile from the city limits. The
twenty-seventh was Sabbath, and many attended church in the
citv, and, for the first time in many months, listened to a church
organ, and sacred music with female voices. Forage was abund-
ant. Salt was scarce, and Company K was detailed to forage for
salt. They called at a house where they had been informed they
would find salt, but the owner protested that not an ounce of salt
was in his house. A young lady, with great ado, insisted that
the Yankees should not search her room for salt, but was evi-
dently delighted to have her room searched, and a large quantity
of salt was found in her chamber. She was a Union woman,
and, while out of the presence of the owner of the house, rejoiced
in her ability to aid the Yankees. She was a Northern school-
teacher, who had been compelled, against her wishes, to remain
in the South. A light snow-storm, on the twenty-eighth, re-
minded the North-men of home. On the thirtieth, Company 1
made a scout to the Tennessee River, and captured three prison-
ers and a ferry-boat, which the company burned. On the thirty-
first of December, marched early, and camped at Judge Ham-
mond's, twelve miles west of Huntsville. It was, probably, the
coldest night the Regiment experienced during all its service,
and how the men managed to keep warm is yet a mystery. The
rails were rapidly disappearing, and the Colonel ordered the men
to cut down trees, and get them well ablaze with the dry rails,
before they were exhausted. There was little sleep that night.
Standing around the huge burning piles of logs, roasting one
side, and freezing the other, the night was passed, watching the
old year out, and the new year in. There never was a more
picturesque watch-meeting held. In the sombre pine forest, by
I2 4 N1NBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
their blazing fires, the Methodist members of the Regiment
kneeled in prayer, remembering their families at home, who, at
the same hour, were likely celebrating watch-night in comfortable
churches. It was a noisy camp, and, with all the suffering from
intense cold, it was a jolly crowd that made the woods ring with
their shouts and songs. " Judge" Hammond (probably called
Judge because he was a good judge of a negro,) was . the
great landlord of the region. Originally himself a " poor white
man," a class looked down upon even by the negroes, he had,
by engaging in the profitable employment of raising negroes for
the market, and strict attention to business, with careful economy,
amassed a fortune, and bought up the smaller plantations around
him, until he owned hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of acres.
From his house could be seen many chimney stacks, once the
location of the plantation buildings of separate plantations that
his had swallowed up. He said he had seldom bought a planta-
tion, except when his neighbor had run into debt and died, and
it had been sold by the administrators. He was asked what
became of the families then, and replied that they were crowded
back into the poor lands among the hills, and soon sank into the
mass of "poor white trash." His plantation is in Limestone
County, one of the richest and most productive counties in
Northern Alabama, Huntsville being the Court House town, with
a population of about five thousand, a new city grown up within
a decade; and yet the population of the County, notwithstanding
the growth of Huntsville, which had a remarkable growth for a
Southern town, was actually receding year by year, owing to the
process of the consolidation of small plantations into large ones.
And the poor whites who were driven to the hills by this pro-
cess ! We have no language to describe their unfortunate and
hopeless condition. Even the wealthy, who, by the extravagance
or improvidence of the heads of families, were plunged into this
hopeless state, rapidly sank into a condition lower than the negro
slaves. Without schools, or churches, or a ray of hope in the
future, ambition dead, virtue and intelligence decaying, their
condition was indeed a sad one! And, with prayer and song,
and shout and story, the old year of 1863 went out, and the young
new year of 1864 was welcomed in by the Ninety-Second around
their camp-fires, on the great plantation of Judge Hammond.
During the vear, the Ninety-Second, plodding on foot, or on
horseback, had marched fifteen hundred and fifty-eight miles.
Welcome, New Year ! But, oh, how cold ! How clear the
NINBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS. 1*5
bugles rang out on the frosty air when " boot and saddle" was
sounded from head-quarters, and was repeated in the companies.
The roads were horrible, exceedingly rough on the hills, and
frozen in the lowlands strong enough to bear a man, but not a
horse ; marching along, the men on foot to keep from freezing,
and the horses breaking the ice as they went, until the horses' fet-
locks were bleeding, cutting the strong new ice! Napoleon's
army, retreating from Moscow, did not march on a colder day.
Late, in the afternoon the Regiment went into camp, the men very
weary, having marched on foot most of the day to keep warm.
The camp was at Elkmont Springs, a summer resort, and the cot-
tages were taken possession of by the men for quarters. They all
had fireplaces, and the men soon made themselves comfortable.
One negro boy, an officer's servant, while bringing forage from a
cornfield, had his arms and legs so badly frozen that both arms
and both legs were amputated. During the day Company B
scouted for horses and mules, and captured seventeen. Marched
on the second, at noon, twelve miles, to Prospect, and camped in
the woods near Elk River. Marched on the third, at noon, in a
sleet and rain storm, and camped five miles south of Pulaski, Ten-
nessee. Marched again at noon, and camped half a mile south of
Pulaski, where the Regiment lay in camp several days. From
the fourth to the ninth the weather remained very cold, the ground
covered with snow, and men and animals suffered greatly. On
the tenth, the weather moderated considerably. N. G. Collins,
Chaplain of the Fifty-Seventh Illinois, delivered an interesting and
amusing lecture, and offered his printed address for sale. Captain
Albert Woodcock, of Company K, was detailed as Provost Mar-
shal of the Second Division of Cavalry. On the twelfth of January,
the Ninety-Second marched thirteen miles on its return to Hunts-
ville, and camped amid plenty. Marched at daylight, on the thir-
teenth, and again camped on Judge Hammond's plantation. On
the fourteenth, marched at daylight; passed through Huntsville,
and camped on the pike two miles north of the city, and went to
fixing up permanent camp. The next day was fine and warm,
and the men fixed up their quarters comfortably for a long stav.
Forage was abundant, and the railroad brought plenty of rations.
On the sixteenth, many of the men having left camp and gone to
the city without permission, a line guard was put around the Reg-
iment for the first time in ten months. The men did not like it,
and did not perform their duty in just the manner that experienced
soldiers ought to have done. One of the guards commanded a
w6 NINETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
dog that was passing the lines to halt, and, as the dog didn't, he
blazed away at it. Soldiers returning to camp were permitted to
slip in between the guards unobserved. One of the boys writes
in his diary: "The Colonel got mad, and put just three times
the usual guards on duty. The men concluded it wouldn't pay to
fool around any more, and guard duty was better done after that."
On the nineteenth, the ground was covered with snow; the Regi-
ment was ordered to march, but the order was countermanded.
The twentieth was delightfully warm, and the snow melted off.
On the twenty-third, the Regiment marched with the brigade
early, and camped on Limestone Creek, fifteen miles west of
Huntsville. On the .twenty-fourth, marched at daylight through
Athens, a town burned up by General Turchin. When that fight-
ing Teuton first entered Athens with his brigade, the enemy
fought him in the streets, and the citizens, it was said, fired upon
the Yankees from the windows of the houses. The burly Turchin,
it is reported, said to his men, camped about the town : " Boys, I
shuts mine eyes f9r shust one hour I sees netting." When he
opened his eyes again Athens was in flames and hopelessly ruined.
Camped at Rogersville. On January twenty-fifth, the Ninety-
Second marched at daylight, in the advance, and at ifbon crossed
Shoal Creek, and, when about one mile west of the creek, the ad-
vance was fired upon by a picket on the left of the column, on a
road leading to Bainbridge Ferry, across the Tennessee River, at
the foot of Muscle Shoals. Captain Becker, with fifty men, was
ordered to charge them, and he did it splendidly, charging down
to the river's edge, about a mile. He captured three of the enemy,
and drove the others around the base of the bluff, where they took
to shelter, dismounted among the rocks, leaving their horses on
the river's beach. A ferry-boat, with an ambulance loaded with
the enemy, nearly across the river, returned to the other shore.
The Rebel General Roddy's command was on the opposite bank,
and had rifle pits which commanded the approach to the ferry on
our side of the river. The men among the rocks were commanded
to surrender; but their friends opposite told them to lie still, that
the Yanks could not get at them ; and we could not, without
running the gauntlet of the enemy's fire, and likely losing more
men than we should capture by the effort. There were twenty
horses, and probably twenty men, under the bluff. We could see
the horses, but the men were concealed among the rocks. The
horses were all shot, and, bidding the Johnnies good-bye, the
Ninety-Second was withdrawn, and Captain M. Van Buskirk, of
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 127
Company E, with four companies, was ordered to march rapidly
to Florence. He started, but only a mile or so away, near the
Sweetwater, ran into the enemy, who had a strong line flanking a
log house, and the house itself was full of the enemy, who used it
as a fort, knocking out the chinking to fire through between the
logs. Captain Van Buskirk charged them on horseback; but,
finding a heavy force, the men slipped off from the horses, and lay
down in the grass and weeds. While lying there, with the open field
surrounding the log house in front of them, Captain Becker told
Company I, " By jingo, boys, we will have to charge over that
field, for I lost my hat out there." He did not wait long for an
opportunity to recover his hat. The" brigade moved up and dis-
mounted two regiments, and the line had just commenced ad-
vancing to the support of the four companies, when Captain Van
Buskirk ordered his four companies to charge on foot. Forward
they went, receiving a hot fire from the log house, and the two
Rebel regiments flanking it; but they routed the Rebels, captur-
ing twenty prisoners, and killing fifteen of the enemy, and prob-
ably wounding twice that number. Our loss, all in the Ninety-
Second, was: Captain Horace J. Smith, Company B, wounded,
musket bal! through his arm; Corporal J. A. Colehour, Company
I, wounded in shoulder the Corporal had been home with a
wound received at Chicamauga, and had just returned to the Reg-
iment; private Andrew Drafferty, Company B, wounded; private
William B. Smith, Company F, wounded; private Jeremiah Lam-
bert, Company F, wounded; private David O'Brien, Company I,
wounded; private Henry K. Hapster, Company F, wounded.
Among the fifteen of the enemy killed, were Lieutenant Colonel
Wynans and Captain Ingraham, of the Fourth Alabama Confed-
erate Cavalry. Lieutenant Colonel Wynans was in command of
the two regiments, and on his body were found marching orders.
He had been directed to make a junction with the forces that had
just commenced crossing the Tennessee River at Bainbridge
Ferry the force that Captain Becker had turned back by his
charge and with them to attack Athens at daylight the next
morning, where he was informed that a column of dismounted
men, with artillery, would aid him; the last-mentioned column to
cross the Tennessee River after dark, immediately south of Athens
the three Rebel columns striking Athens at daylight. By these
marching orders, captured from the dead body of Lieutenant Col-
onel Wynans, commanding one of the Rebel columns, we were
placed in possession of the Rebel plan of the attack on Athens.
128 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Manifestly, having turned back two of the Rebel columns, the
only thing left for us to do was to make a night march, striking
the Tennessee River south of Athens at daylight, and cut off the
only column left of the Rebel attacking force. Colonel Miller,
commanding the brigade, decided upon that course, and the com-
mand countermarched; and a mile east of Shoal Creek bivouaced
and fed animals, and resumed the march at eleven o'clock P. M.
At four A. M., of the next day, halted to make coffee and feed ani-
mals, when Lieutenant Colonel Phillips, with a portion of the
Eighth Illinois Mounted Infantry, from Athens, came up, and
Colonel Miller, taking his advice, again countermarched upon
Florence. About nine o'clock, a courier came from Athens, with
information that the Rebels had made an attack upon Athens at
daylight; but, not being supported by the cavalry they expected,
and learning that Wilder's brigade and the Eighth Illinois were
out on the Florence road, they feared that they would be cut off
from their retreat to the south side of the Tennessee, as they ought
to have been, and would have been had Colonel Miller acted reso-
lutely upon the information in his possession, taken from the body
of the Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Wynans. The column
was again countermarched, and started for the Tennessee River,
south of Athens; but the opportunity had been lost, and, on reach-
ing a point eight miles west of Athens, a courier came with infor-
mation that the enemy had made safe his retreat across the river.
The command camped in Athens that night. On the twenty-
seventh, marched from Athens toward Huntsville twentv-five
miles, and camped on Limestone Creek. Marched at daylight,
and camped at Huntsville. On the thirtieth, marched at eight A.
M., fourteen miles, to Trianna, on the Tennessee River, south of
Huntsville, at the mouth of Indian Creek, for the purpose of being
near ibrage, and to recruit the animals, where the Regiment re-
mained until the third of April. It was a beautiful camp, but
there is little to record while the Regiment lay at Trianna.
On the first of February, there was a very heavy rain-fall,
and the camp was ditched to carry off the water. On the second,
thirty recruits from Illinois joined the Regiment. On the sev-
enth of February, the Chaplain preached to citizens and soldiers,
in the church at Trianna. On the eighth, the Regiment was
inspected by Brigadier General Elliott, Chief of Cavalry. On
the ninth, the Regiment received two months' pay. On the fif-
teenth, a scouting party of the enemy was found on the north
side of the Tennessee, and four of them captured. On the
NINETY -SECOND ILLINOIS. 129
eighteenth, there was quite a snow-storm. On the twenty-fourth,
five prisoners were captured. On the night of the twenty-fifth,
there was considerable picket firing, and the troops were in line
early on the twenty-sixth. On the twenty-seventh, several pro-
fessed religion, the Chaplain having succeeded in getting up a
revival in the Regiment at Trianna. The month of March came
in with snow and rain, but the snow melted off immediately, and
the trees were beginning to bud. On the fourth of March, the
Regiment commenced playing town-ball, and it had quite a run.
The weather was very fine. On the eighth, a soldier writes in
his diary : " In going through the Regiment to-day, the men
may be seen in their tents; some reading the papers; others, old
books, which they have found in the country ; some writing, and
some playing cards; while out of the tents, wicket ball, base ball,
and pitching quoits are going on. At night, music and dancing
are going on in camp." Fishing for bull-heads, in Indian Creek,
was a part of the passtime. Lieutenant Colonel Sheets sat, one
day, four hours, out on a log, patiently waiting for a bite ; he got
one, just one, and, attempting to pull out the fish, lost his balance
and his fishing pole; scrambling' up, he grabbed his pole 1 , but the
fish had departed! The Lieutenant Colonel was disconsolate,
and never more went fishing in Indian Creek. On the fourteenth
of March, stringent orders came from Department head-quarters
against foraging for food in the country, or burning rails, lor the
reason that it was desirable that the country north of the Tennes-
see should be cultivated, that it might furnish forage for men and
animals another winter. On the twenty-second, there was six
inches of snow in the morning; and on the twenty-third, great
sport was had, four companies against six, snowballing, and
occasionally some one would get a winder in the face with a hard-
packed ball, and then there would be balling of a different nature.
The snow-battle lasted until the snow was gone, and it resulted
in a drawn battle, for the lack of ammunition on both sides the
only instance where the opposing forces exhausted their ammu-
nition simultaneously. On the twenty-ninth, the new Sutler
came with a stock of goods, the first for the Ninety-Second since
leaving Franklin, Tennessee. On the first of April, the entire
Regiment, officers and men, spent the dav in April-fooling each
other. It is only fair to say that the officers suffered most in the
sport. On the second of April, orders came to inarch; and that
evening the camp was tilled with the people from miles around
come to see the last dress-parade, listen for the last time to Collen
ifl
130 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Bauden's excellent Silver Band, and hear the Glee Club sing its
farewell songs. During the time the Regiment was at Trianna,
Lieutenant Skinner, of Company D, was Chief of Scouts, with
about twenty brave fellows under him. They spent their time
riding around the country, occasionally capturing a Johnny home
on furlough, and interviewing the secesh lassies, which, by the
way, the Lieutenant assumed was a duty to be performed by the
Chief of Scouts in person. One morning, hearing from the
colored people that a Rebel soldier was home, the Lieutenant and
his scouts set out for his house. The ladies declared he was not
there; but the Lieutenant made himself agreeable, and soon had
the confidence of the old lady, who told him her son's name, his
company and regiment, the name of his Captain, his Colonel,
and Brigade Commander; and told him her son had been home,
but had returned, and informed him at what ferry he had crossed
the Tennessee. The Lieutenant, suspicioning that her son was
in the bush that is, hid away in the woods concluded to try a
ruse. He waited until night-fall, then went to the ferry where the
Rebel soldier had crossed the Tennessee, hallooed across, and was
soon answered by the Rebel picket, who inquired who was there
and what was wanted. The Lieutenant answered, giving the
name of the Rebel soldier, his company and regiment, his Colo-
nel's name, and the name of the Brigade Commander, and said
he wanted to come across. It seemed so straight that the Rebel
picket manned the ferry-boat with five men, and came over the
river with it, but found the Lieutenant and his scouts, with a
demand to surrender, at the moment of landing. Of course they
did so; they could not help it. The boat was burned, and the
prisoners brought .to camp. Patrolling the river bank one dav,
the Lieutenant's quick eyes detected a spot on the beach, where a
skiff had been recently landed, and, suspicioning that it might
land again, returned after dark with his scouts, and lay concealed
and quiet for hours, when they heard the snorting of horses swim-
ming in the river. Waiting a while, a dug-out, just large enough to
hold two men, came to the shore, two men in the boat, and two
horses swimming by its side. The men in the boat had no
chance but to surrender, and one of them was John Morgan's
Chief of Scouts, armed with two revolvers. He declared it had
always been his intention never to surrender alive; but, in that
little boat, with twenty men around him, and no chance to fight,
he had no other course. The horses were fine animals, and
both men shrewd and cunning. They were taken to Huntsville,
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 131
and, by the aid of Rebel friends there, and such stories as they
concocted, they were both released, by General Crook, to return
with the very information John Morgan had sent them to obtain.
On the morning of April third, the Regiment marched at day-
light for Madison Station and Huntsville. When crossing the
marsh bordering Limestone Creek, the men scattered out to the
side of the road. The Colonel told them it was better to keep
in the middle of the road, but the men had been over the road
oftener than the Colonel, and probably knew the road better; but
the Colonel kept in the old road. It was so cold that ice had
formed over the pools of water; and his horse breaking the ice,
the Colonel kept on, until he came to a little bridge beyond which
was a pool frozen over. His horse halted, but he gave him the
spurs, and he sprang forward, and went all over under in the
deep hole. The Colonel was in a sorry plight, when he was
pulled out of the mud by his Orderly, and the Regiment had a
good laugh. His Orderly scrubbed him oft" with a horse-brush,
in the swift water of Limestone Creek; and, nearly frozen, the
Colonel dashed ahead, to find a house at which to warm, and get
on a dry suit. The Regiment went into camp four miles south of
Huntsville, when orders came detaching the Regiment from
Wilder's Brigade, and assigning it to the Third Brigade, Third
Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, with orders to report
to General Thomas, at Ringgold, Georgia. " Boot and saddle"
was at once sounded, and the Regiment marched through Hunts-
ville in column of sections, % the band, mounted on white horses,
leading, and received from General Gerrard, the then Commander
of the Cavalry Division at Huntsville, the compliment of his
saying that the Ninety-Second was the finest Regiment in his
command; but it was not in his command; it was already march-
ing to report to General Thomas. The Regiment camped two
miles north of Huntsville, and drew rations for its march to
Ringgold.
i 3 2 N1NBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER V.
FROM HUNTSVILLE TO RlNGGOLD BEAUTIFUL CAMP AT RlNG-
GOLD THE MASSACRE AT NICKOJACK RECONNOISSANCES
UNDER KILPATRICK NlCKOJACK AVENGED LIEUTENANT
COLONEL SHEETS AND MAJOR BOHN COMPLIMENTED IN
RESOLUTIONS GENERAL MOVEMENT OF SHERMAN'S ARMY
AGAINST Jo JOHNSTON KILPATRICK WOUNDED RESECA
GUARDING THE RAILROAD KILPATRICK RETURNS OUT-
POST DUTY ON THE CHATTAHOOCHEE DAVE BOYLE'S CAP-
TURE AND ESCAPE BAND HORSES GOBBLED LAYING PON-
TOONS AT SANDTOWN CUTTING RAILROADS AT WEST
POINT RAIDING AROUND THE REBEL ARMY AT ATLANTA
NIGHT FIGHTING AT JONESBORO-- KILPATRICK, SURROUNDED,
CUTS HIS WAY OUT SWIMMING COTTON RIVER SAVING
THE BRIDGE ACROSS FLINT RIVER BRILLIANT DIVERSION
ON THE RIGHT OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE GLASS'S
BRIDGE FALL OF ATLANTA THE SUMMER'S CAMPAIGN
ENDED.
On the morning of April fourth, 1864, the Ninety-Second took
up its line of march from Huntsville eastward, in a driving rain
storm, which continued all day. - The Regiment marched thirty-
three miles. Marched at daylight, and camped at Bellefonte.
Marched at daylight, and, owing to high water, had to seek the
sources of the streams, and, after marching thirty miles, camped
ten miles from Bellefonte. Reached Bridgeport on the seventh,
at noon, and camped on old ground, awaiting wagon-trains, and
shoeing animals. The Regiment left Bridgeport at davlight, on
April tenth, crossing the Tennessee on pontoons for the eleventh
and last time; and marched over the winding, rough, mountain
road, traveled by the army trains until it was almost impassable,
some points being literally corduroyed with the carcasses of dead
animals. It is said that, in the climate of South America, the
atmosphere is so dry and pure that beef will cure perfectly in the
open air without salt, and that the roads are there mended with
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 133
sides of fresh beef. The steamboat landing, at Pittsburg
Landing, Tennessee, was paved with sides of bacon ; but the only
road, probably, ever seen in North America corduroyed with the
carcasses of mules and horses, was passed over in this day's
march. Passed Shellmound and Nickojack Cave, where General
Andrew Jackson fought a battle with the Cherokee Indians.
Marched at daylight roads horrible wound around over the
rocky, brow of Lookout Mountain for the last time, and camped
at Rossville, Georgia. The Colonel reported in person to the
Chief of Cavalry, Army of the Cumberland, Brigadier General
Elliott, in Chattanooga: and, on the Colonel's representing that
many men in the Regiment were without horses, he was in-
formed, by General Elliott, that mounted infantry regiments
must not expect to get horses until after all the cavalry were
mounted; and that all the cavalry never would be mounted.
The Colonel protested against such treatment of his Regiment,
and, in a stormy intervieAv, insisted that, as long-as his Regiment
was serving, by proper orders, with the cavalry, it should receive
the same treatment as the cavalry. Elliott, like all the Regular
Army officers, had a dislike for mounted infantry. They all
insisted on the European idea of cavalry, armed with short-range
carbines, pistols and sabres ; until that notion was taken out of them,
the cavalry in the Western Army was alwavs a nuisance. They
had to meet Forrest and Wheeler, in a rough, wooded, mountain-
ous country, with no chance for cavalry charges, except in column
of fours, on roads always barricaded at frequent intervals, and
the enemy fighting, dismounted, from behind barricades, fences,
ditches, in the thick woods, and armed with long-range Missis-
sippi rifles. It is an old saying that you must fight fire with
fire ; and it is true that, if you fight an enemy successfully, you
must fight as he fights, and with weapons such as he uses. If
his men are dismounted, and armed with long-range rifles, and
take advantage of stumps, ditches, trees, woods, barricades and
houses, you must fight him dismounted, with long-range
weapons, and take like advantage of stumps, ditches, trees,
woods, barricades, and houses. You might as well charge a
scattered band of Comanche Indians with a squadron of heavy
European cavalry, as to have attempted to fight Forrest or
Wheeler after the manner of European cavalry movements.
The cavalry was always getting into a tight place, and calling on
the Ninety-Second, with their long-range Spencer Repeating
Rifles, and fighting on foot, to help them out; and the Ninety-
134 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Second always did it; and here was the Chief of Cavalry, of the
Department of the Cumberland, insulting the Regiment openly
by declaring that the men might go on foot until all the cavalry
were mounted, and that the cavalry never would be mounted.
The Colonel resented, with hot words, the insult put upon his
men, and won the enmity of the West Pointer.
At Rossville, a large number of recruits joined the Regiment,
all dismounted, and armed with old Burnside carbines no better
for actual service with the Ninety-Second than potato pop-guns.
Marched early on April twelfth, eighteen miles, to Ringgold,
Georgia, and went into camp. The Colonel reported to General
Thomas, and protested hotly against the treatment his Regiment
was receiving from General Elliott, and insisted that his rights in
the cavalry were precisely on a par with the cavalry regiments.
On the thirteenth, the Regiment camped on ground that had
been long occupied by a mule train, the muddiest, filthiest spot
to be found, but also the highest, being on the brow of a hill. All
hands went to work cleaning up camp, grading and leveling, and
laying it out in regular order. The pickets of the Ninety-Second
were attacked, but the attack was repulsed without loss on our
side, and with a loss of one Rebel killed, and two captured.
The fourteenth was spent in planting evergreens throughout the
camp, and by two days' labor, the filthies spot the Regiment ever
camped upon was converted into the cleanest and handsomest
camp the Regiment ever occupied. Lieutenant Colonel B. F.
Sheets tendered his resignation, on account of business reasons,
and Major John H. Bohn tendered his resignation, on Surgeon's
certificate of disability. On the fifteenth, Colonel R. G. Minty
relieved the Colonel of the Ninetv-Second of the command of
the brigade. On April sixteenth, was held the first dress-parade
since leaving Trianna. On the seventeenth, Brigadier General
Judson Kilpatrick assumed command of the Cavalry Divison.
The Colonel had an interview with General Kilpatrick, and de-
tailed the conversation of General Elliott, at Chattanooga, and
insisted that it was simply right and just that the Ninety-Second
should not be made the tail end of the cavalry, but should be
placed upon a par with the cavalry in drawing horses, and in all
other particulars. General Kilpatrick promised that the Regi-
ment should be supplied with horses, and be treated in the future
just the same, in regard to all things, as cavalry regiments of his
division. It is but just to sav that General Kilpatrick kept his
promise, and never afterward did the Ninety-Second make com-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 135
plaint ot" not receiving horses, clothing, and rations, in precisely
the same quantities that the cavalry received them. There was
only one point of difference between General Kilpatrick and the
Colonel in this interview : the General insisted that the Colonel
should turn over his long-range Spencer Rifles, and draw carbines
and sabres, the General saying that he always fought at short
range, and wanted every man to have a sabre. But the Colonel
explained the manner in which Forrest and 'Wheeler fought, the
rough and wooded nature of the country, and begged the General
to wait until he had at least one skirmish with the enemy, and
saw the Ninety-Second in action, before he took from them their
long-range Spencer Repeating Rifles. To that General Kilpatrick
consented ; and he never afterward desired to take away from the
Ninety-Second their Spencer Rifles.
It was thought necessary to keep a picket post eight miles
away from camp at Nickojack. It was a dangerous place. Its
danger was represented bv the Colonel to the commanding officers,
in a written communication sent to the Department head-
quarters through regular channels; but no attention was paid to
it. The brigade was made up of three regiments of Kentucky
cavalry and the Ninety-Second ; and the influence of the Colonel
of the Ninety-Second never amounted to anything in that
brigade. They were all Kentuckians; and while many Ken-
tuckians disliked traitors, it was only a feeble feeling in compari-
son to the bitter hatred with which nearly all Kentuckians looked
upon an Abolitionist.
On the twenty-second of April, the Regiment was received
and inspected by Brigadier General Elliott, in company with
Major General Thomas, and General Elliott was pleased to
boast considerably to General Thomas, in the presence of the
members of the Regiment, claiming that the Ninety-Second had
the cleanest and handsomest camp of any regiment, infantry or
cavalry, in the Army of the Cumberland; and General Thomas
admitted that no regiment in his Department had a cleaner or
handsomer camp. The men of the Regiment appreciated the
compliment. During the whole service, the Ninety-Second
always stood among the first for cleanliness of camps, care of
equipments, and soldierly discipline. Sometimes the men com-
plained of the drills, dress-parades, and strict discipline, but they
were always proud of the compliments earned from command-
ing officers and Inspector Generals.
April twenty-third, 1864, was a sorrowful morning in the
136 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Ninety-Second; the picket post, eight miles from camp, at Nicko-
jack Trace, was surrounded, and attacked in overwhelming force,
just at daylight. There were sixty-two men at that post, under
command of Lieutenant Horace C. Scoville, of Company K,
divided into squads, picketing several roads. A regiment of dis-
mounted Rebels crossed Taylor's Ridge during the night, and
placed themselves upon the road in rear of the pickets, and, at day-
light, a regiment of mounted Rebels charged simultaneously every
post, driving the men back onto the reserve, and the reserve back
onto the regiment of dismounted Rebels, who had barricaded the
road. Thirty-three, out of the sixty-two, were killed, wounded, or
captured. Lieutenant Scoville, a gallant and faithful officer, was
among the captured. But the horrible part of the transaction was
the brutal treatment our men received, after their capture, at the
hands of the cowardly fiends ! Our wounded men were picked up
by us, and lived long enough to tell the story of their cowardlv
murder by Lieutenant Pointer, of Wheeler's staff, and his cut-
throat crew. It was demonstrated to a mathematical certainty
that many of our men were cruelly, brutally, inhumanly, unsol-
dierly and cowardly murdered, after they were disarmed and
wholly powerless to defend themselves. Lieutenant Pointer him-
self shot William Catnach, of Company B, after he was disarmed
and a prisoner; and, Catnach not falling at the first fire., and while
Catnach was pleading for his life, the cowardly villain shot him
again, the last shot passing through his lungs, and being a mortal
wound. Catnach was brought back to the hospital, and told his
story under oath, and lived until the seventh of May, when he
died of his two wounds. William A. Hills, of Company K, famil-
iarly known in the Regiment as Willie Hills, met the same fate.
A soldier writes in his diary under this date: "When overpow-
ered, Willie delivered up his gun, as ordered. A Rebel then
stepped up to him, after he was disarmed, cursed him, and then
placed his gun to Willie's breast and fired. Willie fell dead. This
statement is made by a woman living near, and who saw it." Ten
dead bodies of our men were gathered up, and the wounded ten-
derly borne back to camp. Little squads of officers and men
throughout the Regiment discussed the butchery of the morning,
and it was that day very generally believed in the Regiment that
the Ninety-Second would never take another prisoner. There
was no dismay, but a very general and firm resolve that the butch-
ery should be avenged! On the twenty-fourth, three of the
wounded men died. In the afternoon, the Regiment held a solemn
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 137
funeral, and placed in one grave seven of the ten men killed at
Nickojack; three were sent home for burial. Lieutenant Colonel
B. F. Sheets and Major John H. Bohn, their resignations having
been accepted, bade good-bye to the Regiment, and started for
" God's country." They were excellent officers, and the Regi-
ment parted with them with much regret. On the twenty-ninth
of April, the Regiment moved at two A. M., with the Division,
through Ringgold Gap, to the south side of Taylor's Ridge, on a
reconnoissance. The cavalry, leading,, came to a stand, at the
first Rebel picket post; and the Ninety-Second, with their Spen-
cers, was called upon to clear the road of the enemy, and did so.
The Rebel papers reported twenty of the enemy killed. The
Ninety-Second lost three; one killed, and two mortally wounded.
On the thirtieth, the Regiment was mustered for pay, and re-
ceived a special order from General Kilpatrick, complimenting
the Regiment for its gallant conduct on the day before.
On the second of May, the Regiment again marched through
Ringgo'.d Gap, on a reconnoissance, to Tunnel Hill, with the
Division, the Ninety-Second leading, General Baird's division of
infantry moving out through the Gap, in support of the cavalry.
Kilpatrick wanted to dash onto the first picket post, and follow
them right into their camps on a run, a nice thing to have done;
but it was utterly impossible where the roads passed through
mountain gorges, and were barricaded every twenty rods. Just
before daylight, the first shot was fired by the enemy at the
Ninety-Second advance; and, with a yell, the men put spurs to
their horses, and dashed forward. The enemy fled; but the
Ninety-Second was soon halted by an impassable barricade that
required some time to remove. The Ninety-Second kept on, and
drove the enemy from three separate barricades, charging each one
in front. The enemy made the next .stand at a log house, with a
long stretch of open field and road in front. The Colonel halted
the advance, and sent a squad, dismounted, through the woods, to
(lank the house and come up in the rear of it. It required a little
time; and Kilpatrick, impatient, and as reckless of the lives of
his men as he was of his own, came up to the advance, and found
the Colonel seated on the ground, quietly smoking his meer-
schaum pipe. He demanded the reason why the advance was
halted, and the reason was explained to him. He waited a minute
or two, and then said: "Well, we can't wait, fooling around
here ; forward the advance." The Colonel replied: "All right:
forward it is, then." But the Spencer Rifles of the flanking party
17
138 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
opened at that instant; and, with the advance, the General dashed
up to the log house, without receiving a shot from the enemy,
whom the flanking party had routed ; and five of the enemy were
left dead to tell the effectiveness of our Spencers. Then the
cavalry took the advance, and, a mile farther on, found the enemy
occupying a wooded hill, with an open field in their front; and, of
course, the Ninety-Second was sent for; and the order was to dis-
mount, and come forward on the double-quick. The Regiment
was dismounted, and went -forward. The Colonel was directed,
by General Kilpatrick, to take the hill ; he rode forward, and
reconnoitered the position, and .saw that, by moving through the
woods a short distance, he could flank it, and avoid the approach
over the open field under the enemy's fire, and therefore turned
the head of the Regiment into the woods. The enemy saw the
Regiment filing into the woods, and sent a straggling fire of
musketry, at random, where the Regiment was marching; and
Captain Preston, of Company D, as brave an officer as there was
in -the Regiment, but not the coolest, ordered the Regiment to
charge, and away it went over the open field. The Colonel
knew that the men could not double-quick over that field, and
then charge up the steep, wooded hill occupied by the enemy ;
and, with Adjutant Lawver, Captain Hawk, and perhaps other
mounted officers, rode out in front of the Regiment, and ordered
the men to go at a walk, and dress their line on the colors, so that
they would have breath and strength to make the final charge up
the hill; but, before the Regiment was at the foot of the hill, the
enemy retreated. The mounted officers dashed to the top, and
put in a few pistol shots at the retreating foe. We had now nearly
reached the camps of the enemy; their long wagon train was
winding over Tunnel Hill; their cavalry drawn up in line of
battle, five or eight thousand of them in plain sight. A battery
of artillery tossed shell at them; and, to make the enemy think
that Sherman's whole army was after them, the Ninety-Second
marched round and round in a circle, passing, everv few minutes,
over the bold brow of the hill, and back through the woods out
of sight of the enemy, so that it must have appeared to the enemy
like regiment after regiment of infantry, filing into the woods,
as' the stream of men over the brow of the hill was continuous,
and the regimental colors repeatedly passing, always in the same
direction. Having demonstrated that the enemy had no infantrv
north of Tunnel Hill, the object of the reconnoissance wasaccoiriT
plishd, and the command returned to camp, the Ninety-Second
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 139
holding the rear. When within a mile or two of Ringgold Gap,
the enemy grew very bold, and attacked the rear with considera-
ble force t and with great energy- The entire Regiment faced
about in line of battle, mounted, in an orchard, with an open field
in front. The enemy had a line of battle, on a hill beyond the
field, and a squad of the enemy occupied a wooded hill, on our
, left flank, and annoyed us with their sharp shooting. General
Kilpatrick led a charge of cavalry against the enemy in front, but
the cavalry he was leading didn't charge as fast as the General,
and, Kilpatrick having his horse shot, the cavalry retreated.
General Kilpatrick inquired if the Ninety-Second could charge
on horseback and take that hill, and was told that it could try, and
it did try ; and it took the hill, and held it. A considerable force
of the enemy had passed into a corn field, through a gap in the
line of hills; it looked like a column of two or three hundred,
and two companies of the Ninety-Second were sent to cut them
off from returning. After a while, there was considerable music
made by the Spencers in that corn-field, but the Ninety-Second
took no prisoners that day. Few of the enemy that went into
that corn-field ever came out of it again. " Boys, remember
Nickojack," was the battle-cry, but it never was afterward. The
massacre at Nickojack was terribly avenged ! The Regiment
was satisfied, and never afterward was Nickojack revengefully
mentioned in the Ninety-Second, but always sadly and sorrow-
fully. The hill was held until General Kilpatrick ordered the
Regiment to withdraw, and it passed on through Ringgold Gap,
and into camp, without another shot being fired by the enemy.
The camps about Ringgold were rapidly filling up; and, from the
top of Taylor's Ridge, it looked at night, when the camp-fires
were lighted, like a great city, the bright lights gleaming for
miles and miles. On the fifth, heavy columns of troops moved
through Ringgold Gap. On this day, a meeting of the officers
of the Regiment was held, which is explained in the following:
" RINGGOLD, GA., May 5th, 1864.
" At a meeting of the officers of the Ninety-Second Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, held on the fourth instant, Captain J. M.
Schermerhorn, of Company G, being called to the Chair, and
Adjutant I. C. Lawver elected Secretary, on motion of Captain
Van Buskirk, a committee, consisting of Captains E. T. E. Becker,
of Company I, H. J. Smith, of Company B, and Lieutenant G.
R. Skinner, of Company D, was appointed to draft resolutions
I 4 o N1NBTT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
expressive of the universal regret experienced at parting with
our late Lieutenant Colonel and Major, and of the high esteem
in which their memory is cherished by the Regiment. The fol-
lowing are the resolutions as reported and unanimously adopted :
" WHEREAS, Circumstances over which they had no control
have made it necessary for our much esteemed Lieutenant Colo-
nel, B. F. Sheets, and Major, John H. Bohn, to sever their con-
nection with our Regiment; and
" WHEREAS, It seems to us not improper to express our
regret in this public manner; therefore
" Resolved, That in taking final leave of us, thev carry with
them the best wishes of all, both officers and men, who have, for
over twenty months, served under their gallant leadership.
" Resolved, That bv uniform kindness, wholesome discipline,
and soldierly bearing, they have endeared themselves to everv -
officer and man in their command, and bound us together with
ties of friendship which cannot be broken while memory shall
last.
" Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to request the
papers of Carroll, Ogle, and Stephenson Counties, Illinois, to
publish the above resolutions.
" J. M. SCHERMERHORN, President.
" I. C. LAWYER, Secretary."
On the sixth of May, orders came to be ready to march in a
movement of the whole army, on the morning of the seventh of
May, 1864. The movement on the morrow was to be a move-
ment of all of Sherman's troops in that immediate vicinity; that
is, a general advance, and in exact harmony with the whole
forces of the United States; Banks moving, at the same time, in
the Department of the Gulf, and Grant on Richmond. Sher-
man had the Army of the Cumberland, Major General Thomas :
Infantry, 54, 568; artillery, 2,377; cavalry, including the Ninety-
Second, of course, 3,828 total, 60,773; guns, 130. Army of the
Tennessee, Major General McPherson: Infantry, 22,437; artillery,
1,404; cavalry, 624 total, 24,465 ; guns, 96. Army of the Ohio,
Major General J. M. Schofield, of Freeport, Illinois: Infantry,
11,183; cavalry, 1,697; artillery, 679; guns, 28 total, 13,559-
Grand total: Infantry, 88,188; cavalry, 6,149; artillery, 4,460:
guns, 254; men of ail arms, 98,779. Marched, at three A. M., with
the Division, and crossed Taylor's Ridge, at Nickojack. Skir-
mished with the enemv all dav, after crossing Taylor's Ridge.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 141
(
Companies K and C drove the enemy, after a brisk little fight,
across a creek, on the left of Hooker's corps. Camped at
Gordon's Gap.
Sunday, May eighth, marched to Vilanow, and drove in a
Rebel picket. McPherson's corps passed Vilanow for Snake
Creek Gap and Reseca, General Dodge's division leading; and
if that division, on striking Reseca, had have pushed into the
town instead of Dodging back to the mouth of Snake Creek Gap
and fortifying, Jo Johnston's Rebel army would have been bagged.
Mav tenth, marched at noon to Snake Creek Gap, five miles, and
camped behind the infantry. There were heavy earthworks
thrown up by Dodge's troops across the Gap, facing toward Res-
eca. It rained terribly during the night. On the eleventh, the
Ninety-Second lay in camp, sending detachments to scout to Lay's
Ferry and Calhoun Ferry over the Oostanaula. On the twelfth,
a. portion of the Division, under command of General Kilpatrick,
the Ninety-Second leading, made a reconnoissance toward Dai-
ton, and, with some fighting, drove the enemy about three miles,
and held them until McPherson's corps had advanced two miles
and thrown up breastworks. On the thirteenth, the Division
marched at daylight, with orders to take and hold^the cross-roads
west of Reseca, to enable the infantry to deploy on the roads.
The Tenth Ohio Cavalry charged the picket of the enemy at the
cross-roads, and drove them back. In this charge the brave and
dashing commander of the Division, General Judson Kilpatrick,
was. wounded, and the command of the Division fell to Colonel
Eli H. Murray, a brave soldier, and the command of the Brigade
devolved upon the Colonel of the Ninetv-Second. The Ninety-
Second was dismounted and formed in line, and pushed consider-
ably beyond the cross-roads, taking position behind a fence, with
a field in their front ; the enemy, dismounted, attempted to charge
over the field and drive the Regiment back, but they were scarcely
out of the woods and in the open field, when the fire of the Ninety-
Second Spencers drove them back. Rebel soldiers, tied in trees,
were sharpshooting, and one, immediately in front of the Ninety-
Second, was discovered and killed by a Spencer ball, and his gun
dropped out of his hand, and his body fell to the ground. Many
of the enemy, at Reseca, were so securely fastened in the trees
that their dead bodies remained there for days after the bat-
tle was over, and until cut down and buried by our troops. The
Regiment lay in the position described, holding the road to Res-
eca, a mile and a half distant, until the infantry deployed; and the
142 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
long line of infantry pushed forward and took the hill commanded
by the guns at Reseca, immediately in front of the Ninety-Second.
The Regiment was then withdrawn, and mounted and marched
again to Lay's Ferry and Calhoun Ferry, on the Oostanaula, and
exchanged shots with the enemy guarding those points, and re-
turned to the cross-roads and bivouaced. On the fourteenth,
marched to Lay's Ferry, sending Companies H and A to Cal-
houn Ferry. A division of infantry, under the command of Brig-
adier General Sweeney, of the Regular Army, made a crossing
at Lay's Ferry, and, being heavily attacked, repulsed the attack of
the enemv, but most unaccountably failed to lay the pontoons.
The failure to lay the pontoons at Lay's Ferry, on this day, must
have been a great disappointment to General Sherman; for, had
they been laid, and a corps crossed and placed at Calhoun, on the
road south of Reseca, it would have been very difficult for Johns-
ton to have retreated from Reseca. We wonder that the General
ot a great army can provide against little failures of this kind (nec-
essary steps in the plan of the general campaign), which, failing,
entail most troublesome results. Of course, it will be understood
by the reader that the Ninety-Second Committee on Publication
do not profess to know that General Sherman intended to place a
corps at Calhoun; we only know that if he had have d.one so,
Johnston, if he escaped at all, must have escaped without a cannon,
animal or wheel ; in fact, his army would have been broken up
and scattered beyond recall, if not in a body captured. In the
night, of the fifteenth of May, the pickets at Calhoun Ferry being
attacked, the Brigade moved out at eleven o'clock P. M., and the
Regiment, of course, moved with the Brigade, and, at the Ferry,
could distinctly hear the low, rumbling sound of Johnston's artil-
lery and trains moving southward it being made plain thereby
that Reseca was being evacuated by the enemy. Information was
sent to General Sherman, and a battery of artillery planted that
opened fire at random toward the Calhoun road, leading south
from Reseca. The firing of the batterv was kept up for a long
time, but no response from the enemy was elicited. The artillery
and musketrv firing in front of Reseca was continuous and ter-
rific. The morning of the sixteenth of May found Reseca de-
serted by Johnston, and his army intact in full retreat south of the
Oostanaula. The Ninety-Second escorted General Force to the
head-quarters of Colonel Wilder, near Rome, Georgia, and re-
turned to the Brigade; crossed the Oostanaula on the poontons at
Lay's Ferrv with the Brigade. While Iving in the woods south of
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 143
the Ferry the infantry advance was severely attacked by the enemy,
but they were repulsed. Marched several miles, and camped for
the night, the Regiment having marched forty miles during the
day. Sherman's whole army was in motion in pursuit of John-
ston. On the seventeenth, the Regiment did not march until two
o'clock P. M., and marched only five miles. On the eighteenth,
moved early, seven miles to railroad south of Calhoun, and waited
for the Armies of the Cumberland and Ohio to pass through
Adairsville; passed Adairsville a few miles, and bivouaced after
dark. On the nineteenth, marched early, on a roundabout road,
Hanking the infantry columns on the right; passed through Kings-,
ton and camped, after dark, in rear of the infantry skirmish line,
a few miles south of Kingston. On the twenty-first, the Regi-
ment retraced its march to Reseca, to guard the railroad from at-
tacks of the Rebel cavalry. On the twenty-second, the Regiment
was divided, one portion marching east and one west of the rail-
road, and camping together at night at Adairsville. Lay in camp
at Adairsville, sending out scouting parties in all directions. On
the twenty-fourth, reports came to camp of a Rebel cavalry col-
umn at Cassville. The Regiment marched at five P. M., five
miles toward Cassville, and sent the advance into the town. The
Rebel cavalry had been there, and gone again, capturing a few
wagons and straggling soldiers. The Regiment remained saddled
all night; and, at ten A. M., next morning, returned to Adairs-
ville, where the Regiment lay until the sixth of June.
On the fourth of June, George W. Marshall, Regimental
Quartermaster, was promoted to Captain and Assistant Quarter-
master of Volunteers, and Philip Sweeley, Quartermaster's Ser-
geant, was promoted to Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermas-
ter. Marshall was an efficient Regimental Quartermaster, and
had earned his promotion. Sweeley was always faithful as a
Quartermaster's Sergeant, and filled, with satisfaction to the Reg-
iment, the position of Regimental Quartermaster.
On the sixth of June, leaving Company G at Adairsville, the
Regiment marched through Kingston, and camped three miles
south-west of the town, to do scouting dutv along the Etowa
River. On the eighth, Company I was sent, on a two days'
scout, towards Rome. The weather was very warm. The Regi-
ment lay in camp, scouting and patrolling the Etowa, until the
thirteenth, living on the fat of the land. Cherries were ripe, and
the woods full of huckleberries. On the eleventh, two of Arm-
strong's cavalry were captured. On the thirteenth, the Regiment
144 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
marched early to Reseca, sending scouting parties in all di-
rections. On the fourteenth, sent scouting parties to Vilanow
and Rome, and the Regiment marched on a roundabout road to
Calhoun and on to Adairsville. On the fifteenth, the Regiment
returned to its old camp near Kingston. On the sixteenth, Major
Charles W. Newcomer paid the Regiment four months' pay. On
the twentieth, Captain Albert Woodcock, of Company K, was
promoted to Major, vice John H. Bohn, resigned, and Lieutenant
Horace C. Scoville, who was taken prisoner by the Rebels at
Nickojack, and was still a prisoner, was promoted to the Cap-
taincy of Company K. On the twenty-eighth, Lieutenant I. C.
Lawver, Regimental Adjutant, left the Regiment, being detailed
as A. A. D. C. on the staff of Brigadier General A. Baird. The
entire Regiment parted with Lieutenant Lawver with great re-
gret; he was an educated soldier and gentleman, and had won the
respect and affection of the entire command. On the third of
July, the Regiment marched to Adairsville, and camped on the
old camp ground. On the fourth of July, marched early, to Res-
eca, and lay there in camp until the twenty-fifth, sending out
heavy scouting parties, and patrolling the railroad to guard U from
being torn up by small bodies of Rebel cavalry. On the twenty-first,'
General Kilpatrick, having recovered from his wound, returned
to the army, and took command of his old Division, to the great
joy of officers and men, who were weary of guarding railroads,
and they knew that when Kilpatrick returned it meant active work.
On the twenty-fifth, the Regiment marched to Calhoun. On the
twenty-sixth, the Regiment adopted commendatory resolutions in
compliment to Doctor Winston, who had resigned. On the
twenty-ninth, Captain J. M. Schermerhorn, of Company G, was
presented with a beautiful sword by his admiring friends in the
Regiment. The Smith D. Atkins Lodge of Free and Accepled
Masons was organized in the Regiment, under a Dispensation
from the Grand Lodge of Illinois. On August second, the Regi-
ment 'marched at daylight, through Adairsville and Kingston, to
Cartersville. On the third, the Ninety-Second marched at nine-
o'clock A. M., through Altoona Pass, and bivouaced a few miles
southeast of Altoona. On the fourth of August, the Regiment
was thrown in advance of the Division about three and a half
miles, the Division being on the right of Sherman's army in front
of Atlanta, where, near the banks of the Chattahoochee, it went
into camp, and did outpost duty. The Rebels were constantly
prowling about the picket posts of the encampment. While here.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 145
Nat. Davis, of Company K, Regimental Postmaster, was cap-
tured, with the mail, while on his way to the Regiment from Di-
vision head-quarters. On Sunday, the seventh of August, Orderly .
David Boyle, of Company H, was sent, with a report of the fight-
ing strength of the Regiment, to General Kilpatrick. When on
the road, a mile from camp, five armed Rebels stepped out from
the bushes, and, with guns pointed at his breast, ordered him to
surrender. David obeyed. The Rebels marched David three or
four miles to the edge of a swamp, and there they lay concealed
until about midnight, when four of them started to the Ninety-
Second camp to gobble horses, leaving the fifth man in charge of
David. David, playing possum, went to sleep, snoring lustily, but
kept open his ears and one eye. After a while, the Rebel guard
dropped away into slumber, and snored in concert with his pris-
oner. Dave then silently rose to his feet, and, with the spring of
a panther, leaped upon the guard, seized the guard's gun, and with
it dashed out his brains. Dave then secured his trustv Spencer.
j
untied and mounted his own horse, and started for camp. When
about half way to camp, whom should he meet but those five
identical Rebels, returning to where they had left Dave in charge
of one of their number, as a guard, and each Rebel having a
milk-white horse, captured from the musical command of Collen
Bauden ! B} 7 the light of the moon, Dave recognized the band
horses of the Ninety-Second, and the Rebels recognized Dave.
A race and a fight ensued. David abandoned his horse, and took
to the swamp, and succeeded in eluding his pursuers. The next,
day, David came into camp, minus hat, coat, shoes, and shirt, the
very picture of hard times.
The Ninety-Second Band was made up of the very best
musical talent in the Regiment. Collen Bauden, the leader, was
modest, almost to bashfulness; and his soft hazel eye told of a
heart as kind as a woman's: there was music in his walk, look,
and gesture. No discordant note, but silver melody alone,
breathed from his horn. All the Band boys were fine fellows,
morally and physically, and, under Collen's instruction, thev
became experts, and, as a Band, second to none in Sherman's
Army. Their horns were German silver, and their horses milk-
white steeds. Like all musical people, the Band regarded them-
selves a degree above the common crowd. They did not belong
to the plebians of the rank and file of the Regiment; hence,
when the Regiment went into camp, the Band was accustomed
to pitch their tents a little way out; and the Band, in its whims,
18
146 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
was humored, as all musical people are. On the night of the
day that Orderly David Boyle was captured, four of David's
capturers crept into Collen Bauden's command, and led away four
of his milk-white steeds! The next morning, the Band boys,
chagrined that the Rebels had stepped over them while asleep,
and led away their best horses, repaired to Major Woodcock, the
Regimental Commander, and, with woe-begone faces, related
their grievances. They asked for more horses at once. The
reply was, "A fighting man cannot be dismounted for the pur-
pose of mounting a non-combatant; the Band must go on foot."
Before nightfall of that day, it was amusing to see the Band boys,
like wayward but -repentant children, come creeping under the
wings of the Regiment for protection. A heavy camp guard was
thrown around the camp ; and, about two o'clock the next morn-
ing, the Rebels were seen approaching the Regiment, probably
in quest of more white Band horses; but the hawks missed
their game: the chickens were nestled snugly in the breast-
feathers, close to the Regimental heart. The guards fired upon
the Rebels. In about five minutes after the volley, the Regiment
was in line, ready for fight. From indications seen 'the next
morning, two or three of the Johnnies must have been wounded.
A day or two afterward, the dismounted Band bovs were on
mules. Where they got them was a query. It was generally
understood that no Ninety-Second man went on foot longer than
two days; that is, not if he understood himself, and he generally
did. A charger, in the form of a horse, mule, or donkey, was
pretty sure to fill the vacancy within that time.
On Monday, the fifteenth of August, 1864, at one o'clock in
the morning, reveille was sounded in the camp of the Ninety-
Second, in compliance with orders from Division head-quarters.
After grooming and feeding the horses, and making a breakfast
of fried " hard-tack and sow-belly," and coffee, the Regiment
moved into line, and awaited the coming of the rest of the Di-
vision. At four o'clock A. M., they came up. The Division, the
Ninety-Second leading, marched to a point within half a mile ot
the Chattahoochee, opposite Sandtown. The town was held by
a small force of the enemy, on picket duty. The immediate
object of the movement of the Cavalry Division was to lay a pon-
toon across the Chattahoochee, opposite Sandtown. The Ninety-
Second was ordered to deploy on foot, and to charge to the
water's edge, under the cover of a battery, on an eminence in
rear- of the Regiment, which was to shell the town during the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 147
forward movement of the Ninety-Second ; but, while charging to
the river, the shell from the battery fell short, bursting, and tear-
ing up the earth in rear and front of the Regiment, scattering the
dirt over the men. The idea of being killed by friends was terri-
ble; it reminded the boys of the time when the Ninety-Second
drove the Rebels over and off from Lookout Mountain, and our
own Brigade battery recklessly tossed its shell into the advance;
only there the boys knew it was a want of information, for Wil-
der's battery was always ably managed; and now it was a want
of sense in the gunners in not elevating their pieces: there was
no glory in such a death. The men of the Ninety-Second stood
even such a fire, withovit a break or curve in their battle-line. A
little cursing from Kilpatrick caused the artillerymen to elevate
their pieces, and fire with more care. Luckily, none were in-
jured. The Regiment moved to the water's edge, throwing
several volleys across ; the shell from the battery dropping nicely
into the town. The Rebels, panic-stricken, fled like frightened
deer. A pontoon boat conveyed some of the Regiment over the
river; all went to work with a will, and, by noon, the bridge of
boats was completed, and the whole command crossed. The day
had been beautiful, the sun shining brightly. A thunder-storm
now rolled up, and poured its waters copiously on the command,
which moved on in the direction of the Montgomery and West
Point Railroad. When near Fairburn, the Rebels made a stand;
but a charge, in which the Ninety-3econd participated, swept
them away. The Yankees then burned the depot and Rebel
stores, cut the telegraph, and tore up some track, and fell back
some three or four miles. It was night. The Regiment, wet
from the drenching rain, without tents or blankets, lay down on
their arms, in line of battle, and slept until the break of day, on
the morning of the sixteenth. The Division moved back to
within three or four miles of the river, and struck a road leading
toward Atlanta. The Ninety-Second brought up the rear. As
the command crossed Camp Creek, the horses were watered, thus
consuming an hour in crossing. Corporal C. O. Trask, with a
detail of men, was stationed in the road, on an eminence south of
the creek. A force of Rebel cavalry, ten times the number of
the Corporal's squad, noticing the little band acting as rear guard,
dashed their horses into a charge. For a moment, the boys were
bewildered, and about to retreat; the Corporal sprang forward,
shouting to his men, " We must stand; we belong to the Ninety-
Second; we can whip them." The boys did stand. Bravely they
148 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
volleyed the charging column, broke it into confusion, and the
Rebels went back faster than they came. After crossing the
creek, the Division moved, on a road, eastward, until within four
and a half miles of the railroad, between East Point, and Atlanta,
where, running against the Rebel army behind their earthworks,
the Division backed out, and returned to Sandtown, crossed the
river, and went into their old camps, both men and horses suffer-
ing from fatigue. On Wednesday, the seventeenth, the men and
horses were allowed to rest.
About two weeks previously, General Sherman ordered
General Stoneman, with five thousand cavalry, and McCook,
with four thousand cavalry, to march the one from the left flank
of his army, the other from the right flank and unite at Love-
joy's Station, and there destroy the railroad. Stoneman did not
reach the road, but was captured, with about a thousand of his
command. McCook reached Lovejoy,*but was heavily attacked,
and obliged to retrace his steps, losing about five hundred of his
men captured, among whom was Colonel Harrison, of the Eighth
Indiana Cavalry, well known in the Ninety-Second. General
Sherman then told Kilpatrick that he might try his hand.
Monday and Tuesday of this week, the Regiment had been
constantly in the saddle, with but little sleep at night. Thursdav
they were ordered to put themselves into first-rate fighting
condition; to provide themselves with all the Spencer cartridges
they could possibly carry, with several days' rations, without
tents, blankets, or other incumbrances, to be ready for the march.
On Thursday, at six o'clock in the afternoon, the command
formed. It consisted of Kilpatrick's Division, and also the bri-
gades of Colonels Long and Minty, and the Chicago Board of
Trade and Tenth Wisconsin batteries, numbering in all about five
thousand horsemen. The Ninety-Second, under the command of
Major Woodcock, was given the place of honor, the advance.
After crossing the Chattahoochee, and getting well under march,
night spread her mantle of darkness upon the land. After cross-
ing a creek, the advancing Ninety-Second descried the camp-fires
of the Rebels in and near the road. "Attention trot march!"
and " charge! " were the commands. On the keen run, the Reg-
iment went in ; the shouts of the men, as they madly dashed for-
ward in that reckless charge through the darkness, echoed and
re-echoed among the hills. They swept over the advance pick-
ets and guards of the enemy, dashed through their camp, driving
the-flying Rebels before them like autumn leaves before the wind.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 149
Onward they rode, sweeping the enemy before them, until they
drove them beyond the Montgomery and West Point Railroad.
The men of the Ninety-Second then halted on the iron track, and
awaited the arrival of the command. Along the road where the
Regiment charged the Rebel dead were scattered. Among their
killed was a Lieutenant. He, with some men, was stationed at
an advanced post. The charge of the Regiment in the darkness
fell upon them like a thunderbolt. The Rebel Lieutenant had
just written a letter to his wife. One of the boys snatched it up.
It was crimson with the Lieutenant's blood. Among his ex-
pressions were the following: "The Yankees are encamped not
far from here. We are liable to have a fight at any moment. I
may never see you again. I commend you, my dear wife, and
our little ones, to heaven's protection." Tears blinded the eyes of
the Ninety-Second boy as he read to his comrades the letter. In
the charge the Ninety-Second had several men wounded, and
many horses killed. The Division fell upon the West Point and
Montgomery Railroad track like a devouring cloud of locusts upon
a grain field. The men, standing as thick as they could stand
along one side of the track, took hold ot the rails and ends of the
ties, and, by main force, lifted the track up bodily and turned it
bottom side up. They built fires, and, heating the rails in the
center, twisted and bent them. They toiled until the rosy light in
the east told of approaching morn. The bugles then sounded "to
horse." Kilpatrick said to the men: "This is not the road that
we are after; we want the one that runs southward from Atlanta."
The bold riders mounted and were away, the Ninety-Second still
leading.
As the sun was rising in golden glory above the eastern hills,
a roll of musketry in the rear of the column announced an attack
in that direction. The shells from the Rebel artiller}' came richo-
cheting along and bursting near the Regiment. Kilpatrick, who
at that time was sitting on the fence in front of a log house ques-
tioning a woman about the roads, looked up, and addressed Major
Woodcock, in command of the Ninety-Second, saying: "That
means fight. Move your men rapidly to the rear, and assist in
the engagement." General Kilpatrick's order was obeyed. In a
few minutes the Rebels were driven in disorder and put to flight.
The Regiment was then ordered to march by file upon the left
flank of the marching column, a space of four or five rods to be
maintained between each file. The enemy, save what had been
routed in the rear, were upon the left, between the command and
150 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Atlanta. The road wound along through the woods, and it was
thought the enemy might lie in ambush. The Ninety-Second
flankers were to draw the fire and engage the attention of the en-
emy, while the command got ready for action. Stumbling over
logs, scratched and torn by briars, often entangled in the wild
vines, the Regiment struggled along; but the toil and fatigue to
both men and horses was very great. They were obliged to keep
up with the column marching rapidly on a smooth road. In that
toilsome manner the Regiment marched until it neared Flint
River. Here the Rebels were massed to dispute the further
march of the command. Our artillery was placed in position.
The Chicago Board of Trade and the Tenth Wisconsin batteries
for a while threw their shells lively. A shell storm rained upon
the Rebels, while the command charged them in front. This was
more than they could endure. They broke and fled in wild dis-
order. The command then crossed the river, and moved into
Jonesboro. The road they were after was reached.
It was Friday evening. The sun had set. The torch had been
applied to the' depot, and all public buildings, and verv soon the
little town was a sea of fire, and the heavens lurid with the flames
of the burning buildings. No time to wait no time to eat no
time to rest the whole command fell to work. No railroad track
was ever more effectually torn up, or faster. The railroad ties
were piled up and set on fire, soon becoming burning log heaps;
the iron rails were then laid on them, and when they showed a
white heat in the center, the rails were twisted like an auger.
Sometimes the men would seize the iron rails by the ends, after
they were red-hot in the center, and bend them around the trees
in ox-bow shape. The destruction of the railway track M'ent con-
tinuously and rapidly forward until about eleven o'clock at night,
when a Rebel brigade of infantry made a bold attack from the
south. The Ninety-Second was ordered to leave their work of
destroying railroad, and double-quick to the point of action. The
men had not time to don their blue jackets, which they had thrown
off in the hot, fiery work of destroying the track; but, seizing
their trusty Spencers, and leaving their horses, they dashed for-
ward on foot to the point of attack. The cavalry were giving
way under the heavy fire. The Ninety-Second rushed in, stum-
bling over the dead cavalrymen that lay along the line, and, in
obedience to orders, the Ninety-Second laid down. The darkness
of the night showed sheets of flame rolling toward them from the
guns of the enemy. The men of the Ninety-Second gave them
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 151
better than they sent. They pumped fire at the enemy in volleyed
thunder from their repeating rifles. The Ninety-Second alone
against a brigade of four or five thousand Rebel infantry ! The
Ninety-Second checked the advance of the enemy, and held them
at bay for nearly three hours. The balance of the command
worked faithfully, destroying the track, while the enemy were be-
ing thus held. Lieutenant G. R. Skinner, of Company D, a
Brigade staff officer, came up to Major Woodcock, in command
of the Ninety-Second, with orders for the Regiment to fall back a
few rods to a rail barricade, built for them by the cavalry. He
remarked, " I do not see how men can live any length of time
under such a fire." The Regiment noiselessly fell back to the
barricade, as ordered. After a while, the enemy slackened up
their fire; but a broken sputtering of shots showed them still in
front, but afraid to advance. To the north of the town, the loud
scream of locomotives and the heavy rumbling of trains could be
heard. Kilpatrick's men knew that regiments of Rebel infantry
from Atlanta were being hurried toward them as fast as possible.
The men of the Ninety-Second were so overcome with fatigue,
that it was almost impossible for them to keep awake. The officers
moved up and down the line, shaking the men, charging them
that their own lives, and the lives of the men of the command,
depended upon their keeping awake. About three o'clock A. M.,
on Saturday morning, the twentieth, orders came to Major Wood-
cock to keep his men in position fifteen minutes longer, when,
without noise, the men were to fall rapidly back to their horses,
mount, and follow after the command. The Regiment saw the rest
of the command mount and move away. For fifteen minutes longer
they held the Rebels; then, as ordered, the Regiment moved
noiselessly back, mounted, and rode rapidly until they overtook
the rear of the column. Many cavalrymen lay upon the ground
insensible with fatigue and sound asleep. The Ninety-Second
men tried to rouse them, told them of their danger, and tried to
get them to move with the command; but they were as immov-
able as statues, and, in a few minutes afterward, were picked up
by the Rebels. Alycrah W. Latham, of Company K, was shot
through the heart; several of the boys were wounded. The com-
mand moved rapidly east of the railroad until it struck a road
leading to Lovejoy Station ; into it the command filed, and toward
Lovejoy they marched. When near an extensive cornfield, the
command halted for half an hour, and the jaded animals were
given a feed of green corn. Then the command mounted and
152 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
moved on to Lovejoy, where it commenced tearing up the rail-
road track, but a swarm of Rebel infantry drove the men from the
work. The command retraced its steps, but, after inarching four
or five miles, masses of Rebel infantry were found in its front.
The Rebels had been run down from Atlanta in the cars during
the night. The road led through a very large open field. In the
field the command was hemmed in; dense columns of Rebel in-
fantry and cavalry surrounded the Yankees. In this situation,
the command fought until three o'clock P. M. The Ninety-Sec-
ond had been frequently double-quicked on foot from point to
point of the field. The enemy's fire began to converge from all
directions. The^Rebels thought they could bag Kilpatrick, as
they had done Stoneman. In front, the Rebel artillery played
upon the men. To the right, to the left, and in rear of their artil-
lery, gray lines of Rebel infantry were stationed, with bristling
bayonets. " Surrender to. the Rebs? Never!" was the exclama-
tion of the men, uttered between their grinding teeth. Kilpatrick
formed his men for the charge in several columns, four horsemen
abreast in each column. The bugles sounded the charge. Men's
faces became rigid with determination ; thousands of sabres glit-
tered in the sunlight. The flashing sabres were a magnificent
sight. The sky resounded with the cheers of the men; the horses
caught the spirit of their riders, and were wild with excitement;
and away the columns flew toward the enemy. They ran over
the Rebel artillery, sabering the gunners, who gallantly stood by
their guns. They rode down the Rebel infantry, their lines van-
ishing like magic. Some of them rallied, and charged for the
Tenth Wisconsin Battery, and the captured Rebel batten', which
were in the care of the Ninety-Second. The Ninety-Second men
wheeled into line, and volleyed the charging Rebels with their
Spencers. The Rebels broke in confusion, and fled in consterna-
tion. In the charge, (Captain William B. Mayer, of Company F,
was wounded; several of the men were hit, but none had mortal
wounds.
Having captured the Rebel artillery, three battle flags, and
many prisoners, the command moved east about three miles, and
halted. Kilpatrick ordered a detail, to be made from each com-
pany of the command, to go to the adjacent fields for corn for
the animals. A regiment was thrown on the road, in the rear of
the command, as a picket guard. The detailed men had not
reached the corn-fields, before a heavy volley was fired into the
rear guard. The Rebel infantrv had rallied, and were in pursuit.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS: 153
The bugles sounded recall. The men hastened back to their
horses; the command mounted, and were away, on the McDon-
ough Road. They reached McDonough, the county-seat of
Henry County, about five o'clock P. M. The heavens grew sud-
denly dark with clouds. It commenced to rain. The rain soon
poured in torrents. It seemed as if the very flood-gates of
the heavens had broken loose. The command moved through
the town, taking the road northward toward Covington. Captain
M. Van Buskirk, of Company E, and Captain Harvey M. Timms,
of Company A, and Captain Horace J. Smith, of Company B,
with their companies; were ordered to move rapidly, in advance
of the whole command, to South River, a branch of the Ocmul-
gee, seize the bridge, and hold it until the command crossed.
On reaching the bridge, they found it in possession of a detach-
ment of Rebel cavalry. The boys charged them, and drove them
from the bridge, as they were attempting to burn it. It was
already on fire, but the boys soon extinguished the flames. The
darkness had become intense. The column crossed a small
stream, and halted. An Orderly, from head-quarters, came
along and said to the Ninety-Second : " You will go in there to
the left, and await further orders." The Regiment did as di-
rected; they tound themselves in a plowed field, flooded with
water by the rain tempest; mud and water were nearly knee deep.
Some- of the men, through sheer exhaustion, sank down in the
mud and water, and were soon asleep, and oblivious to suffering;
others stood up, and held their horses that dark, chilly night
through. Next morning, no sooner had faint streaks of light in
the East indicated the approach of day, than the command rc-
su-med its march. After crossing South River, on the bridge
saved by the boys of companies E, A, and B, the bridge was
effectually destroved. The column moved on, until it reached
another branch of the Ocnuilgee, called Cotton River. There
was no bridge. The heavy rains had swollen the stream, so that
it overflowed its banks, and its angry flood whirled madly along
its channel. The ford was dangerous; and, for some eighty feet,
the horses must swim. Kilpatrick, on the opposite bank, stood
shouting to the men, ordering them to " let go the bridle rein?,
and let the horses guide themselves." The horses, snorting, and
breasting the flood, swam admirably. A frightened rider would
seize the bridle, and attempt to guide his horse; the horse would
turn up on his side, and away horse and rider would go, whirled
along by the angry flood. The command was a long time in
154 'NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
crossing. In the swollen stream were lost the ammunition train,
one piece of artillery, and several ambulances, and a number of
horses were drowned. The ambulance in which Captain William
B. Mayer, of Company F, was riding, after he had been wounded,
was lost in Cotton River; and the Captain came near losing his
life in the water, but caught hold of a limb of a tree, and kept his
head above water until rescued. Every man and horse had a
cold bath. They were as wet as drowned rats, from the rain,
when they went in; but the bath washed away the mud.
The column moved in the direction of Lithonia, a station on
the Georgia Railroad, east of Atlanta. About three o'clock i#
the afternoon, it being the Sabbath, a lot of carriages and buggies
were met, leaded with ladies and gentlemen, returning from
church. They were halted; and the horses instantly entered the
service of Uncle Sam. Ladies and old men, clad in their Sun-
day suits, sat in their horseless carriages, in the center of the
road, demurely inspecting the Yankees as they passed. As the
Ninetv- Second moved by, the utmost courtesy was manifested
toward the unfortunates. Only one boy addressed them. To a
dark-haired young lady, of about eighteen, he said : " Sissy, are
you in favor of our Union?" She responded only by a shake of
her curls, and a flash of her black eyes. Lithonia Station was
reached at dark. The Ninety-Second was ordered into line east
of the railroad, and directed to act as a picket. It commenced to
rain again, and poured down the entire night through.
On Monday morning early, the command resumed its march,
moving along the railroad in the direction of Atlanta. The
heavens had cleared lip, and the 'blue sky was once more
visible. The sun shone brightly. About noon, the column
halted near a large corn-field; the horses were fed. No Rebels
were in sight. Large fires were made of cedar rails, and the
boys doffed their clothes, wrung out the water, and hung them up
by the fires to dry. Some of the boys, who were not Free Ma-
sons, having a great respect for the Order (as they said\ had taken
some of the masonic clothing from the burning Masonic Hall at
Jonesboro, consisting of little aprons highly ornamented with gold
and silver bullion, which they tied on, and marched around in a
circle, saying it was in commemoration of old father Adam, who
was partial to that, kind of a dress, except that his apron was made
of fig-leaves instead of rich cloth, adorned with the precious
metals.
After a little rest, the command moved, passing Stone Moun-
NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 155
tain on their right, a rocky peak that rises, solitary and grand,
above the surrounding plain. On reaching Decatur, the advance
struck a body of Rebel cavalry. A few volleys sent them flying
toward Atlanta. After marching to a point midway between
Decatur and Atlanta, the column moved on a road northward,
and soon reached the picket line on the left of Sherman's army.
The Ninety-Second was warmly welcomed by Wilder's brigade, to
which it had formerly belonged. It was about five o'clock P. M.
Worn out, and burning with fever, from loss of sleep, the men
sank upon the ground in heavy slumber, and were not disturbed
until nine o'clock the next morning. Kilpa '.rick's Division then
inarched to its old encampment, on the right of Sherman's army,
on the banks of the Chattahoochfee, having made a complete cir-
cuit around both the Confederate and United States Armies.
On August twenty-fifth, with three days' rations, the Ninety-
Second marched, at sundown, six miles, toward West Point, and
lay in line of battle all night. At noon, on the twenty-sixth, the
Regiment marched back to camp at Sandtown. At eleven
o'clock at night, orders came to march at twelve o'clock ; drew
rations, and marched, at midnight, to same point occupied the
night previous. At noon next day, crossed the creek, and marched
six miles, skirmishing with the enemy, and threw up barricades.
The country was poor, and forage for animals scarce, but sweet
potatoes were plenty, to go with and save the hard-tack and
bacon- The firing was continuous all night. The morning of
the twenty-eight broke in perfect calm, neither party attacking.
The Regiment moved at seven A. M., traveling down the Mont-
gomery Railroad, and soon found the enemy in force. The
Ninety-Second was dismounted, and advanced one mile up the
railroad track, toward Atlanta, getting an occasional shell from
the Rebel artillery, the enemy retreating. After a while, the
Yankee artillery was brought into requisition, and silenced the
Rebel guns. The line of battle of the Regiment extended across
the railroad track, and rail barricades had been thrown up, when
the infantry relieved the Ninety-Second. Four of the Ninety-
Second men were wounded by the Rebel artillery. The Regi-
ment mounted, and moved down the railroad. The Regiment
was again dismounted, and moved farther down the railroad, to
hold the front in that direction, until the other regiments built
barricades. Here the Regiment remained until ten o'clock P. M.,
constantly under fire, but they gave the enemy so careful atten-
tion that they dared not advance; moved back to the barricades,
t$6 N1NRTT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and held them until two hours after daylight the next morning,
when the Ninety-Second was again relieved by the infantry, and
ordered back to the horses ; and to remain ready to march at the
bugle call, and remained saddled all day. Eight miles of the rail-
road was utterly destroyed, rails burned and twisted around
trees and telegraph poles, in fantastic shapes, and the ties
burned up. At night, the Ninety-Second was ordered on
picket duty, holding the skirmish line all night. The cavalry did
good service in building barricades, but their carbines, pistols, and
sabres were not worth a cent for fighting; and, of course, the
Ninety-Second, with their long-range repeating rifles, did the
fighting and dangerous duty for the Division. The post of danger
was the post of honor, and the Ninety-Second always held it.
At seven o'clock, on the morning of August thirtieth, 1864, the
Ninety-Second moved on the road toward Jonesboro, having the
advance of the Armv of the Tennessee. General Howard was in
command of that army, General Logan commanding the fif-
teenth corps. The Ninety-Second skirmished with the enemv
constantly, driving them easily until it reached Bethsaida Church,
where, beyond an open field, the enemy were massed behind a
long line of works. Generals Logan and Kilpatrick reconnoi-
tered the 'position. Kilpatrick said: "Logan, throw forward
some of vour infantry, an-:! charge them out." Logan said : " Kil-
patrick, you are a charging man ; charge yourself." The order
then came to the Ninety-Second : " With the Regiment on
horseback, you will charge those works, and drive out the Rebs."
The question was asked : " May we not charge on foot, as we
are accustomed to?" The reply was: "You will charge on
horseback." Kilpatrick wished to show his cavalry. The Ninety-
Second men will remember how hard it was to wheel the horses
into line in that tangled wild wood, beneath a galling fire, the
bullets rattling like hail against the trees. Some of the men
shouted: "Let us charge on foot." The reply was: " No, we
are ordered to charge on horse." The command was given
" forward." Like wild mad-caps, the Ninetv-Second dashed over
that field, and threw their horses against the works; they brought
their Spencers down, and pumped fire into that living mass;
stricken with fear, the enemy fled. The ground along the works
was strown with Rebel dead and dying. Some prisoners were
taken. One boy, of Company I, in his excitement, sprung from
his horse upon the hack of a big Johnny, and, grabbing him by
the collar, dragged him over the works, and, leading him up to
NINETr-SECOND ILLINOIS. 157
Captain Becker, said: "Cap, here's a prisoner; what shall I
do with him ?" Captain Becker said : " Take him back to the
rear." Boy said : " I have not time, Cap ; you take him
back; I want to go for another!" This charge cost the Ninety-
Second valuable lives, although the Rebels lost ten to our one.
Here Lieutenant Dawson, of Company H, was mortally wounded,
than whom a better, braver soldier never lived. His loss to Com-
pany H, and to the Regiment, was irreparable. His body sleeps
bv the Chattahoochee; but his noble, daring spirit finds rest in the
soldier's paradise.
The Regiment moved forward again on the Jonesboro Road,
until it reached a valley, where it was ordered to halt. Here the
Regiment witnessed a splendid artillery duel. On the range of
hills east of the Regiment was Rebel artillery; on a western sum-
mit our batteries were in position. We were midway between
the two. It was a grand scene to witness. White wreaths of
smoke curled upward from the guns, white wreaths from the
bursting shells; Rebel shot howled over us; our shells went
screaming over us back again. Thunder answered to thunder,
peai to peal, crash to crash ! Earth fairly shook. Our boys beat.
The Rebel gunners limbered up, and rumbled away. Onward
we moved, still toward Jonesboro. We marched until we reached
Flint River Valley, about two miles from town. As we looked
down from the hill we saw the river, a bridge spanning it; Rebel
ranks were guarding the bridge, and about to destroy it. " For-
ward, the Ninety-Second!" was the order. "Charge the Rebs,
save the bridge ! " At our request, we charged on foot. On the
run the Ninety-Second went in, cheer upon cheer uttered as the
men dashed upon the Rebs. They could not stand the blaze of
the Ninety-Second Spencers; they fled. The bridge was saved.
As the Ninety-Second was returning to their horses, they met
Generals Howard and Osterhaus. General Howard said : " Boys,
that was a splendid charge ; you are a noble Regiment." Oster-
haus said: "Das ist ein goot Regiment; dey trills de infantry
irill." Each man in the Ninety-Second, after those compliments,
felt as big as a full-fledged Major General ; and thev had a right
to feel thus, for they were good, brave, noble boys. Had they
been ordered to charge into the very jaws of death, they would
have done it. As soon as mounted, Kilpatrick said: "Captain
Estes will accompany you, and give you my orders." The Ninety-
Second moved down the hill, and as it was crossing the bridge,
Estes said to an infantry Colonel who stood bv : " Colonel, the
158 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
cavalry will beat the infantry. We are going right into Jones-
boro." We made a right turn as we crossed the bridge, and
marched down the left bank of the river. The shades of night
were falling. The Ninety -Second had marched and fought the
blessed day through no rest, no dinner, no coffee or little hard-
tack. After moving about a mile and a half down the river, the
Regiment came to a swale; it was getting quite dark. Some of
the men said: "Yonder are the Rebels ! I see their line; there
are hundreds and hundreds of them." Estes replied : " It's a
d d lie ; there's not a Rebel between us and Jonesboro." As the
Regiment crossed the swale, and reached the foot of a hill, a roll-
ing volley of musketry greeted it. Estes said : " The General
directs that you dismount your command, charge the hill, take it,
and hold it." He then moved rapidly to the rear. In advance of
the rest of our Division, we knew not how far, the line of the
Rebel army running -across the top of that hill, the Ninety-Sec-
ond alone was ordered to charge the hill, take and hold it. Great
God, what a task ! " Prepare to fight on foot," was the order.
" Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blundered;
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why ;
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the Valley of Death
Rode the Six Hundred."
" Forward ! " was the command. How like demons the Ninety-
Second fought its wav up that hill. Terrible was the roll of its
Spencers. The incessant, unbroken fire of the Ninety-Second
guns the Rebs, though ten to one, could not withstand. Dis-
mayed, they recoiled and fled back to the foot of the hill. " Lie
down!" was the order. The Ninety-Second obeved. How
closely, how lovingly the men hugged old mother earth ; had they
not done it, there would probably have been but one reunion of
the Ninety-Second, and that beyond the skies for fire to the
right of them, fire in front of them, fire to the left of them, volleyed
and flamed ! Should the men of the Ninety-Second live until
they are wrinkled and gray, they will never forget the terrible
hissing, whistling, and whizzing of bullets above them. It seemed
as if ten thousand colonies of bees were let loose in the trees about
them. One, two and three different messengers were sent back
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 159
with the word, " We hold the hill, send us reinforcements or fur-
ther orders." The Division had come up. The balance of the
Brigade tried to form on the left of the Ninety-Second, but could
not; had the balance of the Brigade succeeded, a general engage-
ment of the two armies would have ensued. Orders came " Fall
back."
" Stormed at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them."
One-fifth of the number engaged were killed or wounded, and
nearly all while lying flat upon the ground. In this fight Lieu-
tenant Sam mis was twice wounded, one wound crippling him for
life. It was midnight before the Ninety-Second sank to rest on
the ground. Thus ended an eventful day in the history of the
Ninetj'-Second Regiment. A day or two after, General Howard
issued an order to Kilpatrick, complimenting him for the brilliant
diversion made by the cavalry on his right, which enabled him to
get his men into line without firing a gun. The brilliant diver-
sion referred to was made by the Ninety-Second Illinois Regi-
ment, and by that Regiment alone.
The following is the list of killed and wounded : In Company
D, Lieutenant Oscar F. Sammis, twice severely wounded. In
Company B, Lieutenant H. C. Cooling, wounded. In Company
H, Lieutenant William H. Dawson, mortally wounded. In Com-
pany D, private John Reed, severely wounded in side ; private
Stephen B. Lowe, slightly wounded in foot; private Augustus
Johnson, severely wounded; private Walter Scott, killed. In
Company G, Corporal James M. Phillips, wounded; Corpo-
ral William Backe, wounded ; private John J. Smith, se-
verely wounded ; private David Grossman, severely wound-
ed ; private Christopher Houser, wounded ; Corporal John
F. Spalding, wounded; Corporal William Dougherty, wound-
ed. In Company C, Corporal William Johnson, severely
wounded ; private Thomas D. Oakley, wounded and taken pris-
oner. In Company H, private Squire Diamond, killed; private
James W. Burton, severely wounded; private Harvey Schermer-
horn, severely wounded. In Company A, private John Deniouis,
severely wounded; private Allen Rand, wounded ; private Michael
i6o NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Wcndling, wounded. In Company E, private Edward Crawford,
severely wounded, arm amputated; private Joseph McElhiney,
wounded. In Company K, private Augustus Stalhout, killed.
At three o'clock, on the morning of the thirty-first of August,
the Ninety-Second was ordered to cross to the other side of Flint
River, which it did, and rested until ten o'clock A. M., when the
Regiment mounted and moved south four or five miles, and then
moved eastwardly, toward Harris's Bridge. Before reaching the
bridge, the Regiment was halted, and horses were fed from a corn-
field. The Regiment, with the Cavalry Division, was then on
the right of General Howard's army corps. About two o'clock
P. M., the corps of the Confederate Generals Stephen D. Lee and
Hardee moved out of their works at Jonesboro, and attacked Gen-
era! Howard fiercely ; but Howard was prepared for them, and in the
contest that ensued the slaughter of the enemy was fearful. The
battle lasted for two hours. The thunder of artillery and roar of
musketry reminded the Ninety-Second of Chicamauga. A por-
tion of the cavalry of Kilpatrick's Division were beyond the field
in which the Ninety-Second was resting and feeding their horses,
and, when the Rebel infantry charged, the cavalry broke and re-
treated in confusion. As a matter of course, when our cavalry
came skedaddling back, the Ninety-Second was ordered forward
on foot, on the double-quick. The Regiment deployed in the
edge of open oak woods, under a galling fire, arid met the gray-
coated Confederate infantry charging across an open field in their
front The Ninety-Second- opened upon them with their Spencer
Repeating Rifles, and with terrible effect. The enemy could not
stand the unremitting, and cool and steady fire from the Spencers
of the Ninety-Second; they faltered in their charge; they broke;
in confusion the gray-coats fell back to some scattering timber,
and there kept up a desultory fire upon the Ninety-Second. The
Regiment had soon thrown up a barricade: but the enemy did
not again venture a charge. In their first charge and retreat, sev-
eral hundred Rebels had fallen before the Spencer Rifles of the
Ninety-Second. Several of the Ninety-Second were wounded,
among whom were Charles Ames, of Company B, making him a
cripple for life. George Walters, one of the Color Guard, was
wounded, but would not leave the Old Flag until after the fight
was over. A bullet struck the gun of Albert Bissel, of Company
K, passed between the stock and barrel of his gun, then struck
him on the forehead, and traversed the upper part of the cranium,
laying open the scalp. " Bert," after picking himself up, coolly
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 161
tied up his bleeding head with his handkerchief, and continued to
fight.
After Howard's corps had given the enemy a general repulse,
the Ninety-Second moved back three miles with the Cavalry
Division, and camped. On the morning of the first of Septem-
ber, the Ninety-Second moved out, at seven o'clock A. M., taking
a road that had been cut through the woods, and which led to the
river. On reaching the river, at Anthony's Bridge, the Regi-
ment halted. The enemy was in heavy force on the other side.
The Ninety-Second dismounted, and soon threw up breastworks,
behind which the Regiment lay, skirmishing with the gray-coats.
The battery of the Cavalry Division did some splendid firing,
dropping their shell into the midst of the enemy. Griffin, one of
Kilpatrick's dare-devil scouts, mounted into a tree above the
Regiment, where he could get a fair sight. Whenever a shell
from our battery did fine execution, Griffin would sing out, " That
whoops 'em; hit 'em again." Just as the shades of evening
began to fall, the Seventeenth army corps, led by Major General
Frank P. Blair, moved up, relieving the Ninety-Second, and the
balance of the Cavalry Division. The Regiment then moved
back about two miles, and bivouaced, for the night, in a peach
orchard. During the night, while the Ninety-Second lay bivou*
acing there in the peach orchard, heavy explosions of magazines
were heard in the direction of Atlanta, and it was rightly con-
jectured that the enemy were evacuating that Rebel stronghold.
On the second of September, the Ninety-Second was in the
saddle early, and moved still farther to the right of Sherman's
army, skirmishing constantly with the enemy. *At ten o'clock
A. M., the Colonel rode up to the head of the Ninety-Second, and
assumed command. He was greeted with cheers by the men.
Soon afterward, General Kilpatrick, at a house by the road-side,
called to the Colonel, and said: " The Ninety-Second is tempo-
rarily detached from Colonel Murray's brigade, and you wil!^
report directly to, and receive your orders directly from, Division
head-quarters. Glass's Bridge is about two miles ahead, and I
want you to take it; don't let. the enemy burn it; now go for it,
Atkins." The Ninety-Second moved out in advance of the
Division; Company F, under the command of Captain William
B. Mayer, and Company C, under the command of Lieutenant
George P. Sutton two as gallant and brave officers as ever drew
sabres, with companies as gallant were in advance, with orders
from the Colonel to charge, on the dead rvin, Glass's Bridge, and
20
162 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
take it, if it was possible. The advance moved on. Silently the
Regiment followed. Soon there was a volley, then a shout ; the
two companies dashed gallantly forward. The enemy were not
prepared for so sudden and brave an attack, and, although they
had partially destroyed the bridge, it was saved. The flooring
had been removed, and preparations for firing the balance made;
but the fire was extinguished. The Regiment soon came up.
Plunging into Flint River, it crossed. A detail to repair the
bridge set to work. Company B, a gallant company, under com-
mand of as gallant an officer as ever mounted, Captain Horace
J. Smith, was sent toward Lovejoy's Station, on a road to the left,
and the balance of the Regiment moved forward on the direct
road, and, after marching about two miles, the Regiment halted
to feed animals; but the men had scarcely dismounted, when
word came that Captain Smith had struck the enemy in heavy
force; in fact, he had run into the camps of the Rebel cavalry
guarding that flank of the Rebel army ; he was hotly pushed back,
the enemy being in overwhelming force; and the Ninety-Second
must rapidly return, to be able to keep from being cut off from
Glass's Bridge. " Boot and saddle" was sounded from Regiment
head-quarters; the Ninety-Second men vaulted into their saddles,
and it was n. dead race to get back to Glass's Bridge and cross
before the enemy held the road. Company B fought like Tro-
jans; they apparently appreciated the stake they were fighting for;
and falling back, inch by inch, from barricade to barricade, they
held the overwhelming forces opposing them. The bridge had
been repaired, and Companies A and E, as soon as over the bridge,
were dismounted, and sent on the road towards Lovejoy's, to
relieve Company B, that had so gallantly held the road for the
Regiment to make good its escape by recrossing Flint River.
As soon as across the Flint, the Regiment dismounted, and sent
its horses to the rear. Company B, under the command of Cap-
tain Smith, passed through Companies A and E, and dismounted,
and, sending their horses to the rear, joined the line of battle of
the Regiment. The bridge was at an elbow in Flint River. The
Regiment threw up a barricade, or breastwork, of rails, old logs,
anything to stop a rifle-ball ; and the Regiment, in elbow shape,
laid down behind their temporary breastworks in line of battle.
The enemy came up in strong force, and attempted to dislodge
the Regiment with musketry ; they brought up their artillery.
Two Yankee batteries fired over the Regiment, and the shell.
iron? Yankee and Rebel artillery, screaming over-therh, made the
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 163
men hug the ground. The Rebel artillery was silenced. An
attempt by the Rebels was made to cross the river, on the left of
the Ninety-Second, but it was repulsed. Five horses were killed
by the Rebel artillery. After dark, leaving a company on duty
at the bridge, the Regiment moved back beyond the hill, and
bivouaced for the night. Lieutenant Frost, of Company A, a
faithful and brave officer, was wounded. The next day, the Di-
vision lay still, listening to the infantry firing, which was con-
tinuous and heavy. At ten P. M., the Division marched, the
Ninety-Second covering the rear. It crossed the bridge, and
silently moved along the sandy road, skirting the left of the Rebel
infantry, and joined the blue-coats on the right of Sherman's
army. After the command had crossed, the Ninety-Second
destroyed the bridge, and followed the command. It was a dan-
gerous march. Had the Rebel infantry discovered the movement,
it could not have been made. It was so quietly accomplished, in
the middle of the night, that it was not discovered, and the whole
Cavalry Division was placed on the east side of Flint River, and
safely in rear of Sherman's right. The next day, the Regiment
lay all day saddled up, and expecting orders, but none came.
The rain poured down. On the night of September first, the
enemy abandoned Atlanta, and, on the morning of the second,
General Slocum, commanding the Twentieth corps, entered that
city. On the fifth, General Sherman directed his army to cease
the pursuit of the Confederate army, and return to Atlanta, to
recuperate and rest, after its incessant campaign of four months.
The object of the summer's campaign had been attained. At
night, fires were kindled as usual ; but as soon as darkness had
settled down, the infantry silently withdrew, and took the road to
Atlanta, the cavalry remaining some hours afterward, when it
also withdrew, the Ninety-Second bringing up the rear. The
night was pitchy dark. After marching a few miles, it was found
that about half the Regiment had become separated from the
advance, and was marching alone, on a road leading to Flint
River. It was overtaken, came to an about face, pushed back to
the cross-roads, where it had taken the wrong direction. The
enemv had now discovered the movement, and his skirmishers
had just reached the road. A few volleys held him until the
Ninety-Second passed, and joined the advance. About three A.
M., of September sixth, the Regiment crossed Flint River, two
miles west of Jonesboro, where it bivouaced, guarding -the bridge
all dav. The Rebel infantry showed themselves in light force, but
164 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
made no attempt to take the bridge. On the morning of the
seventh, a few shells were tossed towards Jonesboro, occupied by
the Rebels. The bridge across Flint River was destroyed, and
the Division marched to a point, 'on the Montgomery and West
Point Railroad, south-west of Atlanta, the enemy following,
lightly skirmishing, with the Ninety-Second holding the rear.
Camped at night, with no rations for the men, and no forage for
the animals. Marched, early on the eighth, to Mt. Gilead
Church, ten miles south-west of Atlanta, and camped. One day's
rations were issued. A soldier, in his diary, writes : " We were
all very hungry ; some of us have not had a mouthful of food for
the last three days." The next day, the ninth of September,
three days' rations were issued; the Regimental wagon-train
came up; permanent camp was established ; the summer's cam-
paign was ended, and the army was at rest.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
CHAPTER VI.
No REST OFF AGAIN, AFTER HOOD POWDER SPRINGS-
DRAWING THE ENEMY'S FIRE PICKING OUT A FARM
VAN WERT-^WASHING FOR GOLD IN THE GOLD MINES
MARIETTA GETTING READY FOR THE GREAT MARCH
THE START BEAR CREEK PONTOONS DESCRIBED FEINT-
ING ON FORSYTH AND MACON CREWS'S REBEL BRIGADE
SCATTERED REPULSING THE ENEMY NEAR MACON SHER-
MAN'S BUMMERS MILLEDGEVILLE ' BLOWED UP" HOLD-
ING THE REAR AGAINST WHEELER AND HAMPTON RE-
PULSING THE REBEL CAVALRY NEAR BUCKHEAD CREEK
RESTING AT LOUISVILLE, GEORGIA DESTROYING RAIL-
ROADS THE BATTLE OF WAYNESBORO CAPTURING A
REBEL MAJOR A NEGRO BOY'S GRAVE COVERING THE
REAR OF THE I4TH A. C. OUR FRIENDS CRUELLY LEFT
BEHIND COVERING THE REAR OF THE iyTH A. C. FALL
OF FORT MCALLISTER MIDWAY CHURCH DOWN TO THE
OCEAN'S EDGE LOCKRIDGE'S CAPTURE AND ESCAPE FALL
OF SAVANNAH SHERMAN'S LETTER TO KILPATRICK.
The rest that the cavalry expected to enjoy was immediately
broken. Seven men belonging to the Cavalry Division were
captured on the tenth of September, 1864, by the enemy, who
commenced feeling our lines. Foraging parties were compelled
to go several miles for corn for the animals, and to fight for it
when found. A few wagon loads of corn sometimes cost the
lives of many men. On Sunday, the eleventh, the bodies of the
seven Union soldiers were found, lying together, shot by the
Rebels, after they had surrendered ! Their bodies were brought
to camp and buried. On the thirteenth, a foraging party, with
eighty wagons and four hundred men, went ten miles south-west
after corn, skirmishing all the way out and back. On the four-
teenth, the Ninety-Second once more turned out for dress-parade.
On the sixteenth, there was light picket firing; at night, the Smith
D. Atkins Lodge of Free Masons met in an unoccupied house,
i66 N1NETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
and worked on the first, second and third degrees. On the nine-
teenth, the Rebels showed themselves in considerable force on the
Montgomery and West Point Railroad, near Fairburn's Station,
and also on the Chattahoochee, below Sandtown and Campbell-
town. On the fourteenth, there was a Brigade Review and In-
spection on horseback : at twelve o'clock P. M., the pickets were
smartly attacked, and the bugles blew " boot and saddle," but the
enemy did not push the attack. At one P. M., on the twenty-
first, the Regiment was ordered to send wagon trains, sick men,
and debris to Marietta, and march light, at three P. M. ; but the
enemy were farther and farther oft", apparently moving around our
right flank on Rome. On the twenty-third, a soldier writes in
his diary : " Nothing stirring in camp to-dav until evening, when
we gathered around Colonel Atkins's quarters and called for a
speech. He responded, and the best of feeling prevailed, and loud
cheers the result. His speech was divided into two parts the re-
lation and standing of the Ninety-Second Regiment, and politics
generally. The latter, as well as the former, was handled in a
patriotic manner." On the twentv-sixth, there was Brigade In-
spection and Review. The two ways of drilling, cavalry on
horseback, and infantry on loot, was bothersome, and Colonel
Atkins decided to drill the same on horseback and on foot, and
this evening, for the first time, dress-parade was held in a single
line. The boys did all they could to make the time pass cheer-
fully; one writes in his diary: " It has been cheerful in Company
B to-night. Frank Crowell is a natural clown, and his presence
is always welcome. He soon makes everything merry in a com-
pany." On the twenty-seventh, there was Regimental drill on
horseback; the pickets were driven in, and one man in Company
A was captured. The twenty-eighth was spent in horse-racing,
at Division head-quarters. On the twenty-ninth, the Colonel was
detailed as President of a Court Martial, at Division head-quar-
ters, and Major Woodcock commanded the Regiment. On the
thirtieth, a soldier writes in his diary : A beautiful day but no
mail. The Rebels are superintending the railroad north of At-
lanta, and it begins to looks as if we must soon pull out after the
gray -coats again." At one o'clock, in the morning of October first,
1864, the tents were struck, the sick and baggage moved to Mari-
etta, and at three A. M., the Regiment moved out, under command .
of Captain Lyman Preston, Major Woodcock being ill, and Colo-
nel Atkins in command of the Brigade. The Division crossed the
Chattahoochee, on pontoons, at Sandtown, and marched thirty
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 167
miles north-west, to Sweetwater. Charles T. Freeguard, of Com-
pany G, was transferred to Regimental Adjutant, vice Lawver, re-
signed, and Harry G. Fowler, First Sergeant Company G, was
promoted to First Lieutenant.
The next day, the command struck the trail of Hood's army,
moving northward. It was evident that he was moving in force,
and had protected his army the night previous, by heavy lines of
rifle pits. At noon, the Second Brigade, commanded by Colonel
Atkins, struck the enemy at a small creek; and the Ninety-
Second, dismounting, crossed the creek on fallen trees, and drove
a regiment of Rebel cavalry out oi its camp, and captured one
Rebel infantryman, a straggler, but furnishing positive proof that
the Rebel infantry was on the march northward. At noon, a ford
over a creek was found heavily guarded, and the stream swollen.
A bridge was constructed, by felling trees in the stream from both
banks, lodging the tops on an old fish rack in the middle of the
stream, and staking them fast, and piling on rails for a floor-
ing. The Third Kentucky and Third Indiana crossed with
horses, and the Ninety-Second crossed dismounted. When the
hill bevond the stream was reached, a heavy volley greeted the
Third Kentucky, which was ordered to charge, and it did it
splendidly, driving the Rebels about two miles, where they were
found behind strong barricades. The Ninety-Second was held in
reserve. The Third Kentucky and Third Indiana were dis-
mounted, and the enemy driven from the barricades. Several
dead infantrymen were found. Two of the Rebel infantry were
captured. Finding the enemy in force, that portion of the Bri-
gade which had crossed the stream recrossed, the movement
being covered by the Ninety-Second, and the enemy following in
strong force. The bridge became insecure, and the skirmishers of
the Ninety-Second barely crossed it before it gave way, and the
rails floated oft* down the stream. The Division marched three
miles towards Marietta, and bivouaced. Moved at daylight,
Atkins' Brigade leading, and the Ninety-Second in the advance,
and ran into the enemy at Knowles' Creek, a branch of the
Sweetwater; drove them, and pushed on to Powder River, near
the village of Powder Springs. The bridge was gone, and the
Rebels opposite were stubborn. The Ninety-Second men, with their
Spencer Rifle';, deployed along the river, and moved to its edge,
giving the enemy as good as he sent; and it was not long until
the men of the Ninetv-Second had crossed above and below the.
bridge, and drove the gray-coats. away. A bridge -was ha.stily con-.
i68 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
structed, and the Ninety-Second, with two cavalry regiments and
two pieces of rifled artillery, were crossed. The enemy was
pushed from the brow of the hill beyond the stream, when the
terrific rain, that fell in sheets, absolutely put a stop to fighting.
Beyond an open field, in plain sight, in the edge of a timber belt,
was the Rebel line ; but both parties quietly waited for a slack in
the torrent of rain. The Ninety-Second, dismounted, was or-
dered to wait until two shots from the artillery were fired, then
charge across the field. Colonel Atkins put the artillery into
position near a house, and again tried his hand at sighting the
guns. The Lieutenant of artillery told him that the shot would
hit the ground in front of the enemy, and the Colonel replied :
" That is just what I wish to do." Around this house, a squad of
Rebels had been stationed, firing at our men on the other side of
the stream, and Kilpatrick ordered Lieutenant Stetson to let off
his guns at the house. Stetson had done so, and his shell went
through and through it. The enemy retreated. When Stetson
came up to the house with his guns, he went in, and there sat a
woman, wounded in the head with a splinter, and in her lap her
little child, wounded in the head, also with a piece of a shell; the
poor woman was so frightened that she was speechless. The
brave Lieutenant was unnerved, and declared that never again
should a shell from his section be aimed at a house, unless he
first knew that there were no women or children in the house.
After a while, the rain slackened the guns flashed, and .the
Ninety-Second sprang forward to the charge; the enemy fled.
By the barricade lay several of the enemy, badly wounded by the
artillery, the shots having struck the ground, richocheted, and
crashed through the rails of which the barricade was constructed,
spreading death in their path. On the Regiment pushed, the
enemy falling back, but keeping up a continuous fire. The Rebel
artillery sent its shell screaming down the road. The cavalry
regiments were ordered up. Close up to the town the Ninety-
Second pushed, when word came back that they were close onto
long lines of earthworks, filled with gray-coats. The Colonel or-
dered the Regiment to halt, and himself dismounted, and advanced
to the skirmish line, where he could see the Rebel line of earth-
works around the town, stretching far off on both flanks. Private
Edward S. Rowe, of Company K, being on the skirmish line,
dashed forward, calling out, " Come on, Ninety-Second boys, we
can whip them." But the brave fellow was killed a few rods in
front of the enemy's line. The Regiment was ordered to main-
NINETY -SECOND ILLINOIS. 169
tain a strong line, and steadily fall back. The troops slowly re-
tired to the crossing over Powder River, but the flood had carried
the bridge away. A dozen pieces of Rebel artillery were drop-
ping their shell where the bridge had been. The Ninety-Second,
holding the rear, was skirmishing heavily with the enemy. The
little command could not cross, and it could not whip all of Hood's
army, and it could not long remain near that bridge, for the enemy
had practiced on it before, and knew the range, and were dropping
their shell in the midst of the command at every fire. Above the
noise of the bursting shell, the screeching voice of Kilpatrick, on
a hill on the other side of the stream, was heard, as he shouted:
" Atkins, oh Atkins! put your guns on the hill beyond your right
flank, and draw their fire." It was a shrewd Yankee trick, and
proved successful. Stetson was ordered to take up position on a
hill beyond the right flank of the command, and throw shell at
the enemy as fast as he could work his guns. He did so; and
soon the enemy, as Kilpatrick expected and hoped they would,
turned their guns upon Stetson, and there the brave fellow kept
up his fire, drawing the enemy's fire, while the bridge was rebuilt,
and the command recrossed Powder River. We had demon-
strated in such strong force the Ninety-Second, on foot, which
the enemy undoubtedly took for a portion of Sherman's infantry,
two regiments of cavalry, and a section of artillery that it is
likely that the enemy had no thought that we were recrossing
Powder River, but presumed we werfe still deploying our troops
to attack them ; Stetson moving out beyond our right flank, and
keeping up his artillery fire, was an evidence of it to them. It was
fortunate for us, for had the enemy moved out in force from Pow-
der Springs before the bridge was rebuilt, they must have crushed
all on that side of the stream. Eight men in the Ninety-Second
were killed, and many wounded. Among the killed in the Nine-
ty-Second were: William F. Campbell, Company B; George
Austin, Company D; Thomas J. Aurand, Companv F; James P.
Bloss and Edward S. Rowe, of Company K. A large house was
occupied for a Brigade hospital, and a detail made to bury the
dead. As was the custom, the Doctor examined the dead before
burial, and found that private Haggart, of Company G, who had
been shot in the head by a musket ball, that went in on one side
of his head and out on the other, was still alive. There was no
room for him in the hospital, and he was taken into the Colonel's
head-quarters, in one of the negro cabins, and a handkerchiei
drawn through the wound, under the skull. His limbs were
21
tfo MHfETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
rubbed, and, shortly, he opened his eyes. Brandy was adminis-
tered, and in an hour he talked. Within a month he was again
on duty with his company. But the wound cost him his life long
after the close of the war. His brain became inactive, and he
gradually sank into the grave. Marched at nine A. M., the Nine-
ty-Second in rear of the Division, on the Marietta Road; when
within a mile of Marietta, the command turned west, and
marched beyond Stone Mountain and toward Altoona Pass; at
three P. M., countermarched, and camped south of Marietta.
Marched early, eight or ten miles to a cross-road, west of Kenesaw
Mountain, and found Ross's brigade of Confederate cavalry had
just passed; the command scouted the roads in all directions.
Marched toward Powder Springs, and bivouaced, the enemy near
us. Lay in camp on the sixth of October. Marched at daylight,
next day, and found the Rebel rear guard at Powder Springs vil-
lage; skirmished all day, and bivouaced twenty-two miles south-
west of Marietta. Marched at midnight, toward Lost Mountain,
eighteen miles. October ninth, drew three days' rations, turned
out weak animals, and sent them, with all dismounted men, back
to the wagon trains. On the tenth, marched at daylight, for Van
Wert, and ten miles out ran into Rebel cavalry, and easily drove
them to Van Wert, Atkins's Brigade leading. At the edge of the
village of Van Wert, the enemy had taken up a strong position,
with a long stretch of open, level country in their front. As the
leading regiment debouched from the hills, the enemy opened
with artillery. Our battery, stationed on a knoll, replied. The
Ninety-Second was dismounted, and placed in line of battle on
foot. A regiment of cavalry, mounted, was on the right flank,
and another on the left. At a walk, the three regiments in line,
moved out; then the cavalry regiments began to trot, and soon
the charge was sounded, and away the regiments of cavalry went,
the Ninety-Second moving forward on foot, in line of battle, at
quick time. The enemy limbered up his artillery and fled. Ten
prisoners were captured, and several of the cavalrymen killed and
wounded, but the Ninety-Second lost none.
We learned that the town ot Van Wert had been full of Rebel
infantry all day, Hood's troops passing through. At dusk, while
the Ninety-Second Band was playing, a Rebel band struck up
" Dixie," and it sounded as if not half a mile distant. It was in
the Rebel infantry camp, west of Van Wert, on the Cedartown
Road. From the hill near Van Wert, the camp-fires of the
enemy, .stretching miles away, could be seen. Our troops set up
NINBTT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 171
a cheer, and it was promptly answered in the Rebel camps.
During the night, the enemy were feeling our pickets, on all
the roads, and it was rumored that we were surrounded, and an
attack was expected at daylight. At three A. M., of the eleventh,
the whole Division was in line behind barricades, but no attack
was made on us. About noon, Companies A, E, and I, dis-
mounted, charged the Rebel picket, about a mile west of Van
Wert, at Raccoon Creek, and drove them easily, and mounted
men followed them several miles, on the Cedartown Road.
Marched at eleven A. M., on the twelfth, on the road toward
Rome. There was some skirmishing by the Division, but the
Ninety-Second was not engaged, being in the advance, and the
skirmishing taking place in rear and on the left of the column.
It is more disagreeable to march and hear occasional skirmishing,
and not be near enough to see and know what is going on, than
to be right under the enemy's fire. Marched twelve miles.
Company A, on picket, was ordered to send a squad of men
around the Rebel picket post, and two miles in its rear, to the
house of an old man whom General Kilpatrick wished to talk
with, to obtain information of the enemy's movements. The
boys of Company A moved around the Rebel picket, and on to
the house; found the old man at home, and brought him around
the Rebel picket, and took him to Kilpatrick's head-quarters.
Marched at daylight, on the thirteenth, toward Rome. Soon
struck the Rebel picket; and the Eighth Indiana, under command
of Colonel Jones, a dashing officer, and he had a dashing regi-
ment, charged them, and drove them handsomely, capturing
several prisoners, and many carbines that the enemy had thrown
away in their flight. Halted two miles south of Rome, Georgia,
on Silver Creek, and fed ; had horses inspected, and weak ones
sent to Rome ; when the Ninety-Second returned to the Alabama
Road, and followed the enemy, over the range of hills, to the
Cave Spring Road, where Sherman's infantry was found in con-
siderable force, when the Ninety-Second returned to Silver
Creek, and camped. Forage in abundance. The country imme-
diately south of Rome is very beautiful. A large mansion stood
by the road-side, near the creek; and a Yankee wag, who man-
aged to get into conversation with the Southern ladies living
there, complimented the country highly, and especially that par-
ticular farm ; inquired how many acres there were in it, and had
them point out the corners, and where the lines ran around
the farm ; then the Yankee sedately drove a stake into the g-round.
I7 N2NETT-SBCOND ILLINOIS.
Of course, the ladies inquired what he was doing that for, when
the Yankee said : " Every Yankee soldier is to have a farm in
the South after the war is over, and can pick it out himself; and I
have concluded to take this one for mine, and am driving my
stake as the evidence of my having decided to take it." The
lively manner in which those ladies went for that sedate Yankee
with their sharp tongues, was amusing, and was just what the
Yankee enjoyed hearing. The boys would stir up the female
Rebels, just to hear them talk, like the boys at the menagerie stir
up the lions to hear them roar. Marched early on the fourteenth,
turning our taces back toward Atlanta. We did not know what
it meant to let Hood go marching north, and ourselves turn around
and march away from him; but we had confidence that Sherman
knew what it meant, and we cheerfully obeyed orders. The Regi-
ment passed for miles through the finest pine timber seen in the
South, and camped on the Euharlie Creek, a clear, sparkling,
swift, rocky-bottom stream, where the Regiment lay in camp the
next day, sending scouting parties to Van Wert and Villa Rica.
At one P. M., of the sixteenth, the command marched to
Burnt Hickory, and camped after dark; the enemy on all the
roads, forage scarce, and not safe for less than twenty or thirty to
go out foraging. Burnt Hickory is like most of the towns in the
South, found on the map a cross-roads post-office, only one
old log house. Many years before, considerable gold had been
found in the vicinity. Captain Schermerhorn, of Company G,
on the morning of the seventeenth, took a wash-pan, and went
down to the spring, and, washing out a single pan of earth, he
procured several beautiful specimens of gold, one specimen as
large as a bird shot. Schermerhorn was an old California miner,
and said it would prove rich diggings, if every pan of earth would
turn out as well. Moved at one P. M., and camped on Raccoon
Creek, near Stitesboro. Forage was plenty along the creek. On
the eighteenth, Major Woodcock returned, and assumed com-
mand of the Regiment. Lay in camp all day. Sent a detail to
Van Wert in the night, with orders to go into the town rapidly at
daylight, and capture any Rebels they might find there; and the
detail captured two Rebel infantrymen, and brought them to
camp. Marched, at eleven A. M., through Burnt Hickory, and
camped at Dallas, marching thirty miles. Marched early, Ninety-
Second in advance, and skirmished lightly with the enemy. Sent
scouting parties in all directions; a scouting party, from Company
B, captured three Rebels, on the Villa Rica Road. A party, from
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 173
Company A, went to Flint Hill Church, and learned that Ross's
Rebel brigade had crossed there the night previous. On the twon-
ty-first, the Regiment marched early, through Dallas and near to
Stitesboro, and camped on the Van Wert Road. Captain Scher-
merhorn, of Company G, with a detail of thirty men, went to
Van Wert, but found only a few scouts of the Rebel cavalry.
Lay in camp, on Widow Folk's plantation, until the twenty-
seventh, no organized force of the Rebels near us, but the woods
full of scouting parties, familiar with ever by-path, and all the
citizens ready to give them any information; concealed in the
woods, within gun-shot of the road, they would fire a volley, and
then scatter and elude us. On the twenty-fifth, the boys cornered
a squad, and captured them, and also their horses. On the twenty-
sixth, a Rebel crawled close up to Adam Countryman, of Com-
pany 'F, and killed him at the first fire, while acting as a vidette
picket within a short distance of Brigade head-quarters. Two
other posts were attacked. Command saddled up, but not a
Rebel could be seen. Marched, early on the twenty-seventh,
through Burnt Hickory, and across the Pumpkinvine Creek, and
bivouaced. Marched early to Marietta, and went into camp, with
transportation and tents. Forage was scarce, and heavy details,
with wagons, went twenty miles for corn, and skirmished with
the Rebel scouting parties. On the thirtieth of October, Captain
Matthew Van Buskirk, of Company E, having been promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel, took command of the Ninety-Second.
Forage and rations were received by rail, and hundreds of horses
were turned over to Kilpatrick's cavalry, which was all the
mounted force that was to accompany Sherman, on his March to
the Sea. The horses were very poor, sore-backed, and scarcely
able to carry an empty saddle; but Kilpatrick said: "Take them,
boys, and you'll have a chance to trade horses with some rich old
planter in a few days." The time was spent in fitting up the
command for a long campaign.
On November fourth, the Division was reorganized, the Nine-
ty-Second being in the Second Brigade of Kilpatrick's cavalry,
Lieutenant Colonel Van Buskirk commanding the Regiment, and
Colonel Atkins the Brigade. The following officers, belonging to
the Ninety-Second, were detailed for staff duty on the staff of
Colonel Atkins, the Brigade Commander: Captain Horace J.
Smith, of Company B, Acting Assistant Adjutant General of the
Brigade; Captain J. L. Spear, of Company E, Acting Commis-
sary of Subsistence of the Brigade; Lieutenant C. B. Bowles, of
174 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
Company H, Acting Quartermaster of the Brigade ; Lieutenant
George R. Skinner, of Company D, Acting Inspector General ot
the Brigade. They were brave, faithful and competent officers,
and Colonel Atkins frequently expressed himself as greatly in-
debted to them for the harmony and efficiency of his command.
Lieutenant Norman Lewis, of Company C, was detailed for staff"
duty on the staff of General Kilpatrick, and acted as Division
Ordnance Officer; and he never failed to have the Division prop-
erly supplied with arms and ammunition. On the fifth, the Reg-
iment was inspected and paid. A vote in the Regiment showed
the Ninety-Second almost unanimous for the re-election of Lin-
coln ; it was useless Illinois soldiers at the front had no voice in
the election of the President. Captain Taggart, of the Ninety-
Third Illinois, visited his acquaintances in the Ninety-Second.
On the sixth, it was cold and rainy, and the Chaplain held service
in the large house used as Regimental and Brigade head-quarters-
On the tenth, the men were told to write letters home, for that
night would leave the last mail northward ; the troops were al-
ready tearing up and utterly destroying the railroad south of Mari-
etta. On the eleventh, eight bushwhackers, or Rebel scouts, were
cornered and captured. In the evening, General Kilpatrick gave
a party to the officers of his Division. On the twelfth, the last
train of cars left Marietta, for the North, at noon, and the railroad
was at once torn up, and the rails heated in the center and twisted
around the telegraph poles and shade trees. The Military Insti-
tute, just south of Marietta, was burned up. It was expected the
command would march on the morning of the thirteenth, and the
boys, bound to burn up everything, burned their bunks and camp
trumpery; but the order was countermanded, and the men again
pitched tents. At eleven A. M., the Cavalry Division of General
Kilpatrick was reviewed in the open fields north of Marietta, by
General Sherman. Black clouds of smoke rolled upward from the
burning town, and General Sherman, looking at it, said: " Kil-
patrick, somebody is burning up that town." Kilpatrick gazed at
the rising columns of smoke, and replied : " Oh, no, General,
there are only a fev.' fires." Long columns of infantry were
streaming southward all the afternoon. On the morning of the
fourteenth of November, 1864, began the grand march from the
mountains to the sea. The Ninety-Second was in the saddle
promptly, and moved out at seven A. M., on the Sandtown Road,
the town of Marietta still burning at once the commencement
and- the symbol of the destruction the army was destined to leave
NINETT-SECOPTD ILLINOIS. 175
in its track on its long march. The Regiment crossed the Ghat-
tahoochee, on the pontoons, five miles below Vinings, and biv-
ouaced three miles south-west of Atlanta. There was some
amusement in Company A over a stubborn donkey that Lieuten-
ant Cox was attempting to make a pack animal of. Cox became
disgusted, and court-martialed the contrary donkey, and dismissed
him from the service in disgrace. Marched at seven A. M., mak-
ing twenty miles, and camping three miles north-west of Jones-
boro. The Colonel sent two companies into Jonesboro, that cap-
tured a squad of prisoners, several horses, considerable corn, and
camp equipage of the enemy. Marched at sunrise, through Jones-
boro, and all of the town not before destroyed by fire was burned
up, except a house at the south part of the town, where several
ladies sat upon the porch, looking at the troops march by. Against
the side of the house they had pinned up a Free Mason's apron,
and its talismanic power protected the house and the property
surrounding it. At Lovejoy's, the First Brigade, which was lead-
ing, charged the Rebels behind the old Rebel earthworks erected
by Hood's anmy, just previous to the fall of Atlanta, making a
brilliant charge, and capturing two pieces of artillery. The Sec-
ond Brigade then took the advance, and five miles below Love-
joy's ran into the Rebels again, and the Tenth Ohio charged
them, capturing thirty privates and three Rebel officers. . The
command moved a few miles eastward, and camped. Marched at
seven A. M., through a beautiful country ; the citizens said that a
brigade of Rebel cavalry was ahead of us, but they did not contest
the road with us. The enemy was said to be concentrating at
Macon. Many horses and mules were brought in by the scouting
parties. Marched at seven A. M.; fed at Newmarket at noon,
and took two hours' rest. Marched to Ocmulgee Mills, and
camped at nine P. M. On the nineteenth of October, marched at
one A. M.; raining hard, and as dark as a pocket; crossed the Oc-
mulgee on the pontoons, at Planters' Factory, where two hun-
dred girls were employed making cotton cloth for the Rebel army.
Great fires were kept blazing on both banks of the river to light
up the bridge. The light was so bright that it reflected the fac-
tory, and trees upon the banks, and the crossing columns of troops
in the water as clearly and distinctly as if the river had been a
mirror.
Possibly some of our readers would like to know what a
pontoon is. Imagine a frame-work of a little boat, made very
lightly, with narrow strips of well seasoned .timber, the boat about
176 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
three feet deep, twelve feet long, and four feet wide ; under and
over the sides and ends of this light frame-work is stretched
heavy duck canvas, or sail cloth, forming the bottom and sides of
the boat. That is a pontoon boat. Placed in a line across a
river side by side, the boats held in their places by an anchor for
each boat cast in the river some distance above the line of boats,
and along from boat to boat placed stringers of light timber, and
over them a floor of light pine boards, and that is a pontoon
bridge. Ready workmen will lay one in an hour across a river
hundreds of feet wide. The cavalrj' cross two by two, each
trooper dismounted and leading his horse. The artillery, eight
horses to a gun, sink the boats to within a few inches of the top,
the bridge rising behind the gun as it goes from boat to boat.
Those not familiar with them might think the frail little boats of
cloth not strong enough ; but all of Sherman's army crossed, upon
them, all the great rivers on the long march. As soon as the
troops are over, the bridge is taken up, the boards and wood-work
carefully packed on wagons, the canvas cloth dried by huge fires,
rolled up, and transported to the next river.
Ocmulgee Mills and Planters' Factory were, of course, con-
sumed by fire. Sherman had no use for the factory or mills, and
did not wish the one to continue making cloth to clothe the Reb-
els, or the other to grind grain to feed them. After crossing the
Ocmulgee, the command marched ten miles, passing to the ad-
vance of the infantry, fed animals and cooked breakfast. Kilpat-
rick, with the First Brigade, moved to Clinton, by the river road;
Atkins's Brigade marched on a circle, passing through Monte-
cello and Hillsboro, making forty miles, over very bad roads, and
reached Clinton after dark, where six Rebels were captured, and
a quantity of Rebel stores, and plenty of forage for the animals,
already in sacks for shipment to the Rebel army. About eleven
A. M., on the twentieth, moved toward Macon, Atkins's Brigade
leading, the Ninety-Second holding the advance. The Rebel
pickets were soon struck, and, about three miles out, the enemy
was found in considerable force, being Crews's brigade of Rebel
cavalry. Captain Becker, of Company J, with a battalion, dis-
mounted, passed through the woods to within a short distance of
the enemy. The Rebels were preparing to charge, and a cavalry
regiment galloped " forward into line" to meet it; but the charg-
ing column of Rebels did not come far. Starting with a yell, the
Rebels rushed out of their rail barricade, and came toward Cap-
tain Becker, with his battalion of Spencers concealed in the brush.
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 177
when the Captain ordered the boys to fire, and the head of the
Rebel column was surprised and halted; and it was now our turn
to charge, and the Tenth Ohio Cavalry started for the enemy with
a shout and flashing sabres; and then (he entire brigade of gray-
coats, like frightened birds, scattered, in confusion, through the
woods and fields, in terror and dismay. Five dead Confederates,
and six wounded ones, were the effect of Captain Becker's Spen-
cer Rifles. The command did not scatter out to follow after
Crews's brigade, which had separated like a flushed covy of par-
tridges, ever}' one for himself, but kept on down the road toward
Macon, no enemy impeding, until the railroad and Walnut Creek
were reached, two miles east of Macon, where a Rebel picket was
found. The Ninety-Second was dismounted, and drove the
enemy from the creek, and crossed over, and up the hill, driving
the enemy from the hill beyond. Our artillery opened, and the
Rebel artillery immediately responded. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry
was ordered to charge again, and did so, and drove Howell Cobb's
division of Georgia militia from their line of earthen breastworks,
and, for a few moments, the Tenth Ohio held the Rebel line, and
nine pieces of artillery the enemy had abandoned; but, behind
the Georgia militia, protected by another line of earthworks, were
older and steadier troops, who advanced on the Tenth Ohio, and
that regiment fell back and crossed the creek, the Ninety-Second
covering the movement. The balance of the Divison was on the
railroad, tearing up the track, and the Ninety-Second held the
enemy until dark, and until the Division had withdrawn on the
Clinton Road, when the Regiment also fell back two miles, and
bivouaced, still holding the front. The cavalry had demonstrated
so strongly upon Macon, that the enemy was effectually deceived,
and massed all his cavalry and available forces, to guard that
point, and the cutting of the railroad east of Macon gave Sher-
man's columns an open road, uninterrupted by any of the enemy's
troops, as Sherman's army swung off to the south-east, toward
Louisville, Georgia. Many of our troops were wounded, espe-
cially by the Rebel shell, for their nine pieces of artillery kept up
an incessant fire until dark, our guns replying. The poor
wounded men were loaded into the ambulances.
In this march we had no hospitals, in the rear, where our
wounded might bo sent; no supplies and nurses from the Sani-
tary Commission were available ; no furloughs could be granted
to the wounded to return home for treatment they had to remain
with us, and day by day the heavily-loaded ambulances wound
23
178 NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
along the rough roads as the column marched. A large house
was taken as a hospital for the night, where the surgeons per-
formed many amputations. It had rained hard all the afternoon,
and the rain continued all night. During the night, the Brigade
was ordered to fall back to the Clinton and Macon and Milledge-
ville and Macon cross-roads, and barricade and hold that point,
while the army made the turn and the infantry wagon trains
passed. The Ninety-Second was ordered to erect strong barri-
cades, and hold the enemy until the other regiments and battery
had reached the new point, and were ready for attack. After the
Brigade was in position, orders were sent to Lieutenant Colonel
Van Buskirk, commanding the Ninety-Second, to withdraw. He
was a vigilant and gallant soldier, and knew when to act- upon his
own responsibility, and he replied that the enemy had been feel-
ing his position very strongly, and he thought they would soon
attack him in force, and he wished to give the enemy a repulse
before he withdrew. In a short time, the enemy came on in
force, charging the Ninety-Second. Captain Lyman Preston, of
Company D, and Captain William B.Mayer, of Company F, with
their companies, were out in front of the barricade on picket, and
so sudden and determined was the attack of the enemy, tb,at the
officers and men of those companies had not time to get inside of
the barricade, but threw themselves down close to it on the
outside, while the Regiment fired over them from behind the
barricade. The overcoat capes of many of the boys on the out-
side of the barricade showed marks of the enemy's sabres. It is
worthy of remark, that this was the first time that the Ninety-
Second pickets were ever driven in. The enemy charged in three
columns, at the sound of the bugle; one regiment of the enemy
dismounted, swung around the left flank of the Ninety-Second, so
as to give a fire from the rear; and two heavy cavalry columns,
one down the main road directlv in front of the barricade, and
one down an old road, on the right flank of the Regiment. Lieu-
tenant Colonel Van Buskirk, a cool, brave officer, urged the men
to keep quiet, and let the enemy come on. And on they came,
until the Ninety-Second had their two mounted columns in good
range, when the Regiment opened a cool, steady and terrible fire
with their Spencer decimating Repeating Rifles. No enemy ever
did live long within range of those guns, in the hands of the
Ninety-Second men ; and that enemy, although he had carefully
prepared his plans, and felt sure of his game, could not, and
did not, long withstand the quickly successive volleys poured
NlNEfT-SECOND ILLIXOI&. 179
into him by the Regiment. With heavy loss, after bravely fight-
ing, and coming close up to the barricade, the two columns of
Rebel cavalry fell back in confusion; and then the Ninety-Second
gave its attention to the regiment of dismounted Rebels, who had
passed into the rear, expecting to gobble up the Ninety-Second
when their cavalry columns had put it to flight. But the Rebel
programme did not work; it was not the Ninety-Second, but the
Rebel cavalry, which had been put to flight, and the dismounted
Rebels were themselves in danger of being gobbled up; but they
made double-quick time out of the range of those terrible repeat-
ing rifles, so coolly and bravely handled by the Ninety-Second
men. A Rebel prisoner, afterward captured, reported the Rebel
loss in this repulse to be sixty-five killed and wounded. And
then the Regiment slowly and leisurely fell back to the Brigade ;
but so complete had been the repulse of the enemy, that he did
not follow. All day and all night, while the infantry and wagon
trains went by, Atkins's Brigade lay guarding the "elbow," as the
army swung around, and not a wheel of all the vast transporta-
tion trains of Sherman's army was injured. The enemy felt
lightly the picket lines, but made no attack; the repulse the
Ninety-Second had given them made them exceedingly careful
and cautious. The Brigade moved early next day, and lay in rear
of the infantry, while Wolcott repulsed a severe attack of Howell
Cobb's troops, who had come out ot Macon and attacked Wolcott
desperately in his entrenchments. Marched three miles, on No-
vember twenty-third, and camped amidst plenty of forage.
During this march, Sherman's troops lived almost entirely
upon the country, subsisting both animals and men upon the
forage and provisions gathered up as the army marched. Heavy
details were made daily, to gather provisions, who would gene-
rally return at night, well loaded down with ducks, geese, hams,
bacon, sweet potatoes, turkeys, chickens, eggs, and everything
the country afforded. Some of the men so detailed, loved the
adventure, and, not returning to camp, kept along in advance of
the columns, and they soon became to be known as " Sherman's
bummers." Bummers they were, brave to recklessness; and,
while insensible to discipline, they were by no means wholly bad.
Thev were constantly furnishing valuable information, and, like
all the army, burned up everything they could iind that fire would
consume. The twenty-third was very cold, so cold that ice was
formed on the pools of water. A soldier, in his diary under this
date, writes : " Cold to-day ; but, with all the exposure, the men
i8o NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
do not take cold; you will scarcely hear a man in the Division
cough, although they sleep in the open air, with no shelter at all,
unless it rains, and then their shelters are rudely and imperfectly
constructed, and the soldiers nearly always get wet."
On the morning of November twenty-fourth, 1864, the Cav-
alry Division marched early, crossing from the right to the left
flank of the army. The danger was now to be apprehended from
the left flank, and it might be possible that troops from Rich-
mond would make some demonstration against Sherman's
columns. The cavalry had deceived the enemy, by demonstrat-
ing strongly against Forsyth and Macon on the right flank, and
it must now deceive him again, by demonstrating strongly on
Augusta, on the left flank. There was also another object in
view to rescue, if possible, the Union soldiers confined in the
Rebel prison pen at Millen. The head of the Division reached
Milledgeville at noon. Kilpatrick had supposed that he would be
first into the capital of Georgia; but the irrepressible "bummers"
had occupied the capital for two days. When the " bummers"
approached Milledgeville, the Legislature was in session, and
such a skedaddling was never before seen. The members left on
French leave, leaving their books, papers, and documents lying
on the tables in the halls of the House and Senate, and the "bum-
mers" entered, passed a resolution declaring themselves members
of the Legislature of Georgia, organized by electing a Speaker
and Clerk for both branches of the Legislature, and then they
passed a bill repealing the Ordinance of Secession, and bringing
Georgia back again into the Union ! A jolly crowd were the
"bummers." The command passed through Milledgeville, a
dilapidated old town, like nearly all of the towns in the South,
with every sign of dry rot and decay, and with no signs of life or
energy. It looked as if it had been in a Rip Van Winkle sleep
for a century. Five miles east of Milledgeville, the command
crossed the Oconee River, and bivouaced at twelve o'clock at
night.
On the twenty-fifth, marched at sunrise. The men of the
Ninety-Second declared that, after getting into camp at twelve
o'clock at night, being " blowed up" by those noisy bugles, an
hour before daylight next morning, was worse than being
" blowed up" by the " old man" at home. But the bugles rang
out beautifully, clear as bells, first from Division head-quarters,
quickly repeated at Brigade head-quarters, and quickly again at
the head-quarters of the regiments, and still again at the head-
NINBTT'SRCOND ILLINOIS. t8t
quarters of the companies, until all was ringing merrily with the
bugle notes; and then the fires began to gleam everywhere, like
the gas-lights of a great city ah! there was much of the beauti-
ful in the life of a soldier, but the soldiers themselves had but
little time to enjoy it. It was a beautiful day, and, with no enemy
in front or rear, the command marched rapidly. Heavy details
were made to hunt for horses. Hundreds of the finest animals
had been taken to the swamps and hid. The negroes, always our
faithful allies and friends among the faithless always faithful
gave our parties the minutest information of the hiding-places of
the horses, and hundreds of animals were found. The men
would find them hitched in the woods, far away from any house;
locked up in the smoke-houses; carefully hid away in the cellars;
and, in more than one instance, the favorite family nags and valua-
ble saddle horses had been led into the parlors, and matron and
maiden would tearfully beg that their houses might not be ran-
sacked. But a Ninety-Second man could scent a fine horse a
long way off, especially if he could have a conversation with
Uncle Bob in the yard, or Dinah in the kitchen, and locks on sta-
ble, smoke-house, cellar or parlor door, did not long keep him
from the coveted prize. The only trouble was that the captured
animals were soft from the want of service, and without shoes,
and could not well endure the fatigue of the march. The com-
mand traveled about thirty-five miles, and camped amidst plenty.
Marched early on the twenty-sixth. Captain Day, of the Tenth
Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, serving on General Kilpatrick's staff,
with a special detail, moved before daylight, and, by a brilliant
dash, completely surprised the Rebels guarding the large bridge
over the Ogeechee, at Ogeechee Shoals, and saved the bridge. It
was most gallantly done, and Captain Day deserved great credit.
The mills and factory at Ogeechee Shoals were consumed by fire.
No enemy, to amount to anything, during the day. Marched
thirty-five miles, and camped at dark. During the night, the
First brigade, in rear, was desperately attacked ; but it had barri-
cades, and held the enemy, until daylight of the twenty-seventh
of November.
The command was badly incumbered with the hundreds of
captured horses ; and, with an enemy pressing our rear, they were
too great a nuisance to be endured. Orders were received to turn
over to the Brigade Quartermaster all led animals. The Ninety-
Second turned over many horses under this order, and, before
daylight, they were slaughtered at Brigade head-quarters; four
IS; tfTXETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
hundred splendid horses were knocked in the head with axes. We
could not use them, and we did not desire to have the enemy use
them. At daylight, the First brigade moved to take the advance,
and Atkins's Brigade held the rear, and the Ninety-Second, under
the command of Lieutenant Colonel Van Buskirk, held the rear
of the Brigade, with one piece of artillery and the Ninth Michi-
gan Cavalry in support of the Ninety-Second. As soon as the
First brigade passed through, the Rebels came on. The Ninety-
Second lay concealed by willows that grew along a creek, with an
open field in front; and, when the rear-guard of the First brigade
came across the field, and kept on over the creek and up the road,
the enemy, in strong force, set up a yell, and came charging over
the open field. The Ninety-Second, concealed by the willows,
waited for them to come close up, and then, with their trusty
Spencers, sent them flying back again across the open field.
Mounting quickly, after repulsing the enemy, the Regimen', fol-
lowed the command, always presenting a company front in rear,
ready to punish the audacious Rebels if they ventured too close.
Lieutenant Colonel Van Buskirk handled the Ninety-Second with
consummate coolness and courage, successfully beating off each
desperate assault of the enemy. He revolved his companies, one
around another, like a revolving horse-rake, always presenting an
unbroken front to the enemy. About ten o'clock, A. M., the
head of the Ninety-Second turned squarely to the right, and soon
found the road obstructed by the column, that was slowly crossing
by twos over a rickety old bridge, below a flouring mill; the Reb-
els were pressing desperately, and, crossing the angle, were at-
tacking the column in flank. By order of the Brigade Command-
er, a battalion of the Ninety-Second was deployed on foot to pro-
tect the flank, while the troops slowly crossed. The rifled gun,
and a company with Spencer Rifles, were stationed on the hill be-
yond the mill and stream, concealed by a growth of thorn-brush
and crab-apple trees. When the column was over, the mill and
bridge were fired, and the mounted rear-guard of the Ninety-Sec-
ond disappeared over the hill. The mill and bridge soon burned
down, also destroying the mill-dam, and the water from the mill-
pond rushed through so that the enemy could not cross. The
Rebels gathered in the open space around the mill, in crowds, on
the farther side of the creek, when the gun from the crab-apple
knoll, and the Spencers opened. The gray-coats hunted cover
lively. The Rebel column sought a crossing farther up the
stream, and the Regiment had not marched many miles, when
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 1%
the gray-coats were again charging the rear with desperate cour-
age. Their style of fighting was more dashing and desperate than
usual, and it was pretty certain that other troops than Wheeler's
cavalry were on our trail. Colonel Atkins, desiring positive in-
formation as to who was following him, sent two half-breed In-
dians, soldiers in the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, of his Brigade,
dressed in the butternut clothing worn by the citizens generally,
and by very many of the Rebel soldiers, to a house half a mile
from the road, with orders to remain until the Rebel column came
up, then mingle with the Rebel foragers, and ride through the
Rebel column. They did it successfully ; riding with Wheeler's
escort, they found all of Wheeler's command, with two fresh
brigades from the Rebel army at Richmond, under the command
of Lieutenant General Wade Hampton; when, starting out to the
side of the road with the foraging parties of the Rebels, they hur-
ried along through the woods and fields to return to the head of
their own Brigade with the information. The reckless, dashing
courage of the enemy in his persistent attack, was now explained
the Rebel soldiers from Richmond, under Hampton, were show-
ing the Western Rebels, under Wheeler, how to fight. Informa-
tion was sent to General Kilpatrick, at the head of the Division,
that Wheeler and Hampton were both after us, and it was sug-
gested that the Division had better turn around and give them &
square fight; but Kilpatrick replied: "Hold them steady, and
keep well closed up. lam going to Millen, and don't want to
fight, and shall not stop to fight if all of Lee's army is after me."
Desperately and continually the gray-coats kept charging the
Ninety-Second. Various were the devices for decoying the enemy
on close to those Spencers, and then punishing them severely. A
company of fifty men would form at some point in the thick
brush, with open fields in rear; in the road a squad of six or eight
mounted men would halt, fire at the enemy at long range, then
turn and retreat on the column; and on would come their Confi-
dent pursuers at a gallop. When close up, the fifty concealed
horsemen, cool and quiet from much similar practice, would'vblley
them with their repeating rifles. Then the enemy would imagine
a long line of Yankees concealed there, and while the fifty
mounted men were leisurely closing up on the column, the enemy
would deploy his skirmishers, and carefully feel his way, and find-
ing no one, he would come on again more desperately than ever.
Selecting points with good range to the rear, a company of cav-
alry would be turned out at the head of the Brigade, to build a
184 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
barricade and such barricades were built frequently all along the
road the companies building them, as soon as done their work,
trotting through the fields, or by the sides of the road, to the head
of the column, and taking their places again. The Ninety-Second
would come along, and, concealed by the barricade, would give
the too confident enemy a repulse. And then the Ninety-Second
would pass the barricades, leaving them empty, and the enemy
would, for a while, imagine them full of Yankees, and would de-
ploy his troops, feeling his way carefully, or flanking them, and
finding many barricades empty, he would grow reckless again, and
would again run onto a nest of those death-dealing Spencer Rifles.
Companies D, Captain Lyman Preston, and C, Captain R. M. A.
Hawk, and I, Captain Egbert T. E. Becker, acted nearly all day as
the rear-guard of the Regiment. The advance of the Division
captured a train of cars at Waynesboro, tore up the railroad, and
burned up the town. The Ninety-Second passed through the
burning town of Waynesboro at dark, the enemy hotly pursuing,
and about a mile south of Waynesboro found the First brigade
encamped, with strong barricades facing north. The weary 'Regi-
ment passed through the First brigade, procured forage for ani-
mals, cooked supper, helped to tear up the railroad track, and sank
wearily to rest. The gray -coats skirmished around the barricades
of the First brigade all night long, but made no attack in force.
The cavalry had demonstrated strongly on Augusta. General
Kilpatrick learned, during the night, that the Union prisoners had
all been removed from Millen ; and on the morning of the twenty-
eighth, the Division took up its line of march for Louisville,
Georgia, where the infantry columns were to rendezvous., Kil-
patrick complimented the Ninety-Second highly for the splendid
manner in which the Regiment had held at bay the Rebel cav-
alry, under Wheeler and Hampton, the day previous, and desired
the Ninety-Second to hold the rear again on the twenty-eighth;
but the Colonel commanding the Brigade protested against put-
ting all the work on a single Regiment, and offered to hold the
rear with the Ninth Michigan Cavalry, ot his Brigade, a splendid
regiment, armed with Spencer carbines. General Kilpatrick de-
cided to take the Ninth Michigan and the Eighth Indiana, and
hold the rear himself, and did so. Not many miles out, the Gene-
ral, forgetting to " keep well closed up," as he had ordered Atkins
to do the day previous, formed the two regiments in a good posi-
tion, and resolved to give the enemy a charge with both regi-
ments ; but, while waiting for the enemy to attack, a portion of
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 185
the Rebel cavalry reached the road in Kilpatrick's rear, and cut off
the Ninth Michigan and Eighth Indiana, and the General had to
about face, and charge through the Rebels to join his own Divis-
ion. Just after crossing Buckhead Creek, an Orderly came riding
up to Colonel Atkins, telling him that the Ninth Michigan and
Eighth Indiana had been cut off, and those regiments, with Gen-
eral Kilpatrick, had been captured. Covering the crossing of the
creek with two pieces of artillery and the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, At-
kins's Brigade took up position, and waited for the First brigade
to pass through, and with the rear came General Kilpatrick and
the two regiments all right. The General said that the enemy
had surrounded him and those regiments, but that they cut their
way through to the command again. The artillery, and the car-
bines of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, swept the bridge and corduroy
road at Buckhead Creek, as the enemy attempted to take the
bridge by a charge. The enemy was handsomely repulsed, and
the bridge completely destroyed. The command passed on about
two miles, to a large plantation, where General Kilpatrick re-,
solved to make a stand with the two brigades constituting his
Division, and give the enemy a repulse. The ground was admi-
rably selected for it. By the side of the road stood a large house,
and around the house, in circular shape, were constructed rail bar-
ricades, Murray's brigade on the left, and Atkins's Brigade on the
right of the road, dismounted. In front, on the right of the road,
was an open field, and the ground was, for twenty steps, rising, so
that the Yankee barricades could not be seen any distance off.
The barricade was constructed in the usual method, that is, of
rails, by first building a rail fence immediately in front of the
line of battle, and then laying on the fence other rails, one end on
the ground toward the enemy, and the other end on the fence,
and piling them on thicklv. It furnished an excellent protection
against musketry, and a complete barrier to a cavalry charge, as
no horse could leap it, or throw it down by impact from the out-
side. Eight pieces of artillery were stationed on the road, and
behind the barricade, and, flanking the artillery on the right, was
the Ninety-Second, and beyond, stretching to the right, were
other regiments of the Brigade. The enemy was delayed, in
crossing Buckhead Creek, a sufficient time to enable General
Kilpatrick to complete his arrangements, and get his two brigades
in position behind the barricades, when the enemy came on. One
battalion of the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, of Atkins's Brigade, was left
on the road, some distance in front, with instructions to stubbornly
23
i86 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
resist the enemy, and compel him to deploy. Just before the
enemy made the attack upon Atkins's Brigade in force, and while
the one battalion of the Fifth Ohio, on picket, was stubbornly
holding the road, in order to compel the enemy to deploy, a Rebel
horseman showed himself on our extreme right. He halted
his horse beneath a large tree, and there, remaining mounted,
coolly surveyed us. This was too much for Colonel Van Bus-
kirk; his equilibrium .was disturbed by it. Said the Colonel to
William Black, of Company K, who stood near the Colonel :
" Will, hand me your gun, and I will shoot that fellow." Will
handed his gun to the Colonel; the Colonel took deliberate aim,
and fired. The Confederate soldier and his horse never stirred.
The Colonel blazed away again, but the Rebel remained as im-
movable as an equestrian statue. Said Will : " Colonel, you are
disgracing my gun; give it to me." Will took his gun one
quick glance along the barrel from his dark eye, and the rifle
cracked; the Rebel fell, and away went the horse, riderless. At
.about five P. M., the Rebels made the attack ; they deployed in
an open field, in front of Atkins's Brigade, on the right of the
road, in heavy force, and came on in splendid style; when the field
was filled with them, and their advance was within seventy paces
of the barricades, the eight guns, double shotted, opened on them ;
the Ninety-Second and Ninth Michigan volleyed them with their
Spencers, and the Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Ohio Cavalry, with
their carbines. The field was so full that they could not well re-
treat, and, for a few moments, they, with courage, pressed on.
The artillery was fired as rapidly as the gunners could work their
guns, and the Spencers and carbines volleyed in steady succes-
sion, the roll of small arms being as unbroken and continuous as
the thunder of a waterfall. Men and horses were moved down
in front. One of the Confederate officers appeared determined
to find out just what was in front of him, and, mounted on a
beautiful white horse, with reckless courage, rode up to within
twenty paces of the barricade, glanced from right to left over out-
line; when, turning to retreat, horse and rider were killed; and
many a soldier wearing the army blue almost regretted to see so
brave an officer fall. The enemy retreated, and abandoned his
fruitless effort to run over Kilpatrick's two brigades, leaving the
field in front of the barricades covered with his dead and wounded.
A light attack was afterwards made on the First brigade, on the
left of the road, which was easily repulsed. A Rebel prisoner
reported the enemy's loss, in killed and wounded, at about three
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 187
hundred ; but a Major, in General Howard's corps, who after-
wards marched by that plantation, reported that the Rebel cavalry
buried two hundred of their dead there; and if that was true, their
killed and wounded must have been near five hundred. After
repulsing the enemy, the command withdrew. The rear guard
reported that, long after they had retired, they heard the enemy
firing upon the empty barricades. The Rebel cavalry had dogged
us most persistently for two days, and probably concluded, be-
cause Kilpatrick did not choose to fight them, that he was afraid
to fight, but this repulse undeceived them. The two brigades
from Lee's army, under Hampton, learned that the Western
Yankee cavalrv was not afraid to sit down in the road, and let the
enemy try to run over them. The Rebel cavalry did not follow us
any farther that night, and Kilpatrick bivouaced after dark, several
miles east of Louisville, Georgia.
On the twenty-ninth of November, 1864, the Ninety-Second
moved early, with the Division, to Louisville, where the infantry
columns lay resting for a day or two, and waiting for " Uncle
Billy," as the men familiarly called General Sherman, to tell them
when to go again and where to. It is not likely that any one,
aside from General Sherman, unless very high in rank, knew
where General Sherman was " coming out." Some wisely shook
their heads, and " guessed " he would go to Augusta, and through
the Carolinas; some thought it would be Savannah; and others,
with maps before them, demonstrated very clearlv that he in-
tended to break off to the right, and " come out " somewhere on
the Gulf of Mexico. A soldier, in his diary, writes : " If the
Rebels don't know Sherman's plans better than we do, they must
be sorely puzzled." General Sherman is chatty and talkative, but
nothing escapes his lips that he desires should remain unknown.
The country was very fine, the weather beautiful ; cattle, horses,
hogs, sheep, geese, chickens, turkeys, hams and sweet potatoes
were found in the greatest abundance. The camps were scattered
in the groves along the streams, and Sherman's soldiers, in the
heart of an enemy's country, were like a vast concourse of jolly
nicnicers, lolling around in the shade of the trees, telling stories,
wrestling, pitching quoits, playing ball or leap-frog, and anything
for sport and fun, they leisurely whiled away a day or two that had
been given them for rest. Sherman's soldiers, like Sherman's
bummers, were a jolly set. They would joke each other, and play
all dav on the march, and play at night when they went into biv-
i88 N1NETT-SECOND ILLINOIS.
ouac. The soldiers under Sherman will remember their campaign
through Georgia as the long holiday of their soldier life.
On the thirtieth of November, the Ninety-Second lay in camp,
washing their clothing, shoeing animals, visiting the infantry
camps to see their friends and relatives in other regiments, and
getting ready for a fresh start. A soldier writes in his diary under
this date : " We are now in a country where some sugar-cane is
produced; figs, apples, peaches, and all kinds of fruits, and horses
and mules, and .lots of niggers, of all colors, are also produced
here." That soldier's head was level negroes, of all shades of
color, were a regular " production " of that country. Some of the
female quadroons were really very pretty ; they always had large,
lustrous eyes, and pearly white teeth. They knew the Yankees
were their friends, and they warmly welcomed their deliverers
from slavery.
On the first of December, at about ten A. M., the Ninety-Sec-
ond marched with the Division. The enemy, apparently, still re-
garded Augusta as Sherman's objective point, and Wheeler and
Hampton's cavalry were north of Louisville, on the Augusta
Road. Their pickets were struck as soon as the command moved
out. General Baird's division of infantry marched in the road,
maintaining a line of battle with two regiments, Atkins's Brigade
of Cavalry marching through the woods and fields on Baird's right
flank, and Murray's brigade in the same manner on his left flank.
It was only a feint, and it was desired that the enemy should
especially see the infantry ; and for two days this manner of march-
ing slowly, the infantry always with a line of battle at the front,
was maintained, the cavalry on the flanks, with flags and guidons
unfurled, and bands of music playing. It was a magnificent
sight; and the enemy had frequent opportunities of observing the
heavv column of infantry, flanked by cavalry, slowly approaching
them, and marching on Augusta. It was eminently successful;
and the enemy gathered up all his forces to protect Augusta,
leaving an open and uninterrupted road for Sherman to Savannah.
On the third, the column marched near the place where the cav-
alry had repulsed Wheeler and Hampton, on November twenty-
eighth, after crossing Buckhead Creek, and the citizens, living in
that vicinity, put the enemy's loss at four hundred killed and
wounded. That night the column bivouaced at Thomas's Sta-
tion, on the railroad, between Augusta and Millen. The infantry
had orders to tear up and burn the railroad ties and twist the rails,
as" soon as supper was over. The Ninety-Second was sent to
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 189
picket the road beyond the infantry, toward Waynesboro. A sol-
dier writes: " I watched, with great interest, Baird's division of
infantry tear up and burn this railroad. Just at twilight, after
supper, the division turned out, all at once, at the tap of the drum,
and for four miles the track was one busy line of living blue.
They would stand in line, close together, on one side of the track,
and, taking hold of the ties and rails, they would, by main
strength, lift up that side of the railroad track and ties as high as
their heads, and then let it fall back. The first effort would al-
ways loosen a few of the iron rails, when a dozen men would pick
them up, handling the long iron rails as easily as a farmer handles
his pitchfork, and with them they would pry off other rails ; other
men would pick them up, and, in like manner, pry off other rails,
and, in an incredibly short space of time, without any tools so
many men were at work they would have the rails all loosened.
Then the railroad ties were piled up, like the boys build corn-cob
houses, crossing them regularly, in piles about three feet high, in
the middle of the old railroad track ; and then the iron rails were
carefully laid upon them, with the ends extending over. The
pitch-pine and red cedar rail fences at the sides of the road were
added as fuel to make the railroad ties burn well, and, in half an
hour, for four miles, those burning piles of railroad ties made a
magnificent sight. The work was so equally distributed that the
men all seemed to finish it at the same time, and the fires all
along were lighted at once. In half an hour more the iron rails
were red-hot in the center, and for four miles those piles of burn-
ing railroad ties, the rails heated red-hot in the center, made a
sight not soon to be forgotten. The men would take the iron
rails by the ends, when red-hot in the center, and wrap them
around the trees and telegraph poles ; or, twisting them into knots
and interlacing them, the ends sticking every way, would leave
them to cool in huge piles. In destroying those rails, the blue-
coated soldiers were putting their hands directly into the haver-
sacks of General Lee's soldiers at Richmond and Petersburg, and
taking from them their rations. No car loaded with food would
again pass over that railroad to Lee's army ; no long trains loaded
with troops would again pass over it, as Longstreet had done to
reinforce Bragg at Chicamauga." In the middle of the night, the
Ninety-Second, while on picket, heard the enemy bringing up
artillery, and soon the sharp report of their guns was heard.
What did it mean? Was the Rebel infantry before us? The
Rebel newspapers were representing Sherman as wandering about
190 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
in Central Georgia, not knowing where to go, and obscurely
hinted that a terrible fate awaited his army. Camp rumors were
flying about that Richmond was evacuated, and Lee's army com-
ing to meet Sherman. But the Rebels fired only two shots, and
run their guns to the rear again, and the Ninety-Second men
knew that they did not intend to make a general attack. But
these two shots killed two men in the Regiment : Corporal
William Erb and Emmet A. Merrill, both of Company A.
Early on December fourth, 1864, the Division moved out, to
attack the Rebel cavalry under Wheeler and Wade Hampton, At-
kins's- Brigade in advance, and, as the column came by the
Ninety-Second, on picket duty, the Regiment, that had been up
all night, without a chance to cook a cup of coffee for breakfast,
and they had no supper the night previous, was ordered to advance
on foot, and forward it went. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry was lead-
ing the Brigade, and soon found the enemv, and charged in col-
umn down the road, and close up to the enemy's barricade, which
was erected around a house ; and there the Tenth Ohio halted
within pistol shot of the enemy, but the Rebels had carefully se-
lected their ground, and built strong lines of barricades, one back
of another, and felt so certain of repulsing our attack, that thev
did not care to punish, as they might have done, the Tenth Ohio
Cavalry; and, by direction of the Rebel General Wheeler, who
could be seen and heard distinctly by us, the Rebels held their
fire. The Ninety-Second was ordered to come forward on the
double-quick; but the weary men, who had not slept the night
previous, and had gone without supper, and had not a chance to
cook breakfast, were not in condition to double-quick far. Lieu-
tenant Colonel Van Buskirk, with the Ninety-Second, was or-
dered to move upon the enemy's first barricade, directly in front,
and charge him out. The Fifth Ohio Cavalry was ordered to
move in column on the right flank, and the Ninth Ohio Cavalry,
Colonel William D. Hamilton, commanding, a gallant soldier,
whose eagles should have been stars, on the left flank, in column.
The Ninety-Second came up, and formed in line within plain
sight and easv range of the Rebel barricade, but the enemy did
not fire. The Ninety-Second moved down to the fence in the
hollow, in front of the enemy, and crossed it, and again dressed in
line, and then coolly and deliberately started over the open field
and up the hill in front, and within ten rods, of the barricaded
Rebels. Now the enemy had the Ninety-Second, as they thought,
at their mercy, and up the enemv rose behind their breastwork of
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 191
rails, and blazed their carbines into the faces of the Ninety-Second
men ; but the storm of bullets from the repeating rifles of the
Ninety-Second that went hissing back at them was too much for
the gray-coated soldiers, and they sank back again behind their
barricade, while the Ninety-Second leaped forward with a shout,
and onto and over the Rebel barricade, and pumped their Spen-
cers at the backs of the retreating Rebel soldiers. Eighty-seven
prisoners were captured by the Ninety-Second, behind the barri-
cade from which they had driven the enemy. The Tenth Ohio
was pushed forward, and, just beyond the barricade taken by the
Ninety-Second, it was charged by the Rebels, and was broken into
confusion ; but the Ninety-Second, with cool courage, moved for-
ward in line, and repulsed the charging Rebels. Another line of
barricades was found full of the gray-coats, who, while fighting
hard, did not wait as long as the first line had done, but retreated
before the Ninety-Second. The artillery was brought up, and
commenced shelling the town of Waynesboro. The Fifth Ohio
was pressing in hard on the Rebel left, and the Ninth Ohio had
already passed the Rebel right flank, and the enemy was leaving
his third line of barricades. The Ninth Michigan and Tenth Ohio
were ready to charge in the center, as soon as Colonel Hamilton,
of the Ninth Ohio, opened the fight on the Rebels beyond the
creek and near the town, when Kilpatrick ordered a halt! Twenty
minutes more would, probably, have given us five hundred pris-
oners. As it was, the Rebel cavalry, under Wheeler and Hamp-
ton, that had tried to run over Kilpatrick at Buckhead Creek on
the twenty-eighth of November, and had been so handsomely re-
pulsed, had here chosen its own ground, erected three separate
lines of barricades, each back of the other, and had hoped to re-
pulse us; but the Ninety-Second alone had routed them from
their first and strongest barricade, with great loss to the Rebel
cavalry, including eighty-seven prisoners; and a single brigade
had put the Rebel cavalry, commanded by Generals Wheeler and
Hampton, to flight!
A soldier, on the evening of that day, writing to his wife, in
his letter, said : " I will give you a description of the fight of
Waynesboro, and how our line of battle was formed. The Sec-
ond Brigade, commanded by Colonel Atkins, of our Regiment,
did all the lighting, until after we drove the enemy, Wheeler's
and Wade Hampton's cavalry, into the town of Waynesboro.
The Ninety-Second took the center on foot, and the other four
regiments of our Brigade were on the right and left flanks, the
192 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
battery of rifled guns with the Ninety-Second, and our horses fol-
lowing in rear; the First brigade of our Cavalry Division still
farther in rear, in column on the road, and then came General
Baird's division of infantry in column. The cavalry command
was nearly all in sight at one time ; it was a splendid sight to see
both armies drawn up in sight of each other in battle array, ten
thousand mounted men. I have read of such sights, but never
saw one before." The Ninety-Second, after Kilpatrick had com-
manded the Brigade to halt, was permitted to rest, and cook
breakfast. The First brigade followed the enemy out beyond
Waynesboro, on the Augusta Road, skirmishing lightly with the
Rebels, but the enemy made no stand in force. Our burial par-
ties, it was said, buried one hundred and eighteen of the enemy.
The Ninety-Second lost seventeen, killed and wounded. George
W. Downs, of Company I, and Jesse Robinson, of Company K,
were instantly killed while bravely fighting. In the very com-
mencement of the engagement, Captain J. M. Schermerhorn, of
Company G, was knocked down by a musket ball, but his life was
saved by the handle of his pistol in his breast coat pocket; the pis-
tol handle was broken completely off. Corporal David Scott, of
Company D, familiarly known as " Gedee," color-bearer for the
Brigade Commander, while waving the Brigade colors, and
cheering on the men, a brave, good soldier, was struck in the fore-
head by a Rebel musket ball, and instantly killed. It was close
up to the second barricade of the Rebels, and the Brigade Order-
lies dismounted to save the colors, when the Brigade color-bearer
fell dead from his horse; but a Rebel Major had come out of the
barricade, and seized the flag-staff, when Hiram F. Hayward, of
Company I, one of the Brigade Orderlies, seized the other end of
the flag-staff; the Rebel Major was in front of his own line of
battle, and his men could not lire at Hayward without danger of
killing their own Major. Hayward had his navy revolver in his
hand, and the Rebel Major only his sword ; and Hayward drew
bead with his revolver on the Major, and demanded his surrender,
and not only saved the Brigade colors, but brought in the Rebel
Major as a prisoner.
We had now feinted sufficiently on Augusta, and Sherman's
army, stretching from the Ogecchee to the Savannah River, and
with both flanks protected by those streams, less than twenty
miles apart at Savannah, swept onward toward that doomed citv.
The Brigade took up its line of march, the Ninety-Second in ad-
vance, toward Savannah, and camped that night at Alexander, on
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 193
the plantation of Mr. Sapp. Details from the Ninety-Second were
sent to all the bridges over Briar Creek, on our left flank, and
the bridges were burned. Old Mr. Sapp was sick, but young Mr.
Sapp was exceedingly polite, talkative and affable. The Brigade
head-quarters wagon was not yet up, and young Mr. Sapp volun-
teered to get up supper for the Brigade Commander and staff, and
they soon sat down to a smoking hot supper of sweet potatoes,
corn bread and ham. He had no knifes and forks; he said the
Yankee soldiers had taken them all but pocket-knives and fingers
served in lieu of his missing cutlery. After supper, one of the
Rebel prisoners asked Mr. Sapp to give him a pair of pantaloons,
in exchange for the blue ones the Rebel prisoner had on, as the
prisoner was afraid the Yankee soldiers might kill him on ac-
count of his wearing the United States uniform. He said he was
an acquaintance of Mr. Sapp, one of his poor neighbors, a private
in Wheeler's cavalry; but Mr. Sapp would not make the exchange.
Some of the Yankea soldiers, sympathizing with the Johnny in
blue pantaloons, took the responsibility of helping him to the
pantaloons and hat worn by Mr. Sapp. The Yankee soldiers
made quick work with the homes of rich Rebel planters, but, to
their everlasting honor be it said, they were always kind to their
prisoners and to the poor. Many a time might have been seen
some poor old lady, weeping by the roadside, made happy by the
hams and sweet potatoes the Yankee soldiers would give her, or
by an apronful of Confederate money. Mr. Sapp pretended to be
mourning the death of one of his favorite little negro boys, Jack,
by name, and any one could see his freshly-made grave in the
garden, with its little wooden head-board, marked "Jack." The
grief of Mr. Sapp was quite inconsolable. But the Yankee sol-
diers did not think Mr. Sapp would bury a little darkey in his
garden, among the graves of his family and ancestors, and, thrust-
ing their sabres into the newly-made grave, they discovered that
it was very shallow; and, opening the grave, they found it con-
tained a barrel of sugar, his missing knives and forks, silverware,
and even diamond rings. Poor little Jack proved to be a valuable
little darkey, and the Southern newspapers had an opportunity to
publish that Sherman's vandals did not respect even the burial
places of he dead.
The Regiment marched early, on the fifth of December. The
day was beautiful like June, in Illinois the birds Dinging in the
trees and the cattle grazing in the fields. The bridges over the
streams were all destroyed, and the roads barricaded by fallen
24
194 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
timber. A soldier, in his diary, writes : "The enemy evidently
intends to dispute our passage and give us a fight; but if we do not
march along over this road there will be some heavy fighting
done, for our Generals do not propose that the enemy shall dic-
tate what roads we shall march on in the dominions rightly be-
longing to our venerable Uncle Samuel." During the day can-
nonading was heard at regular intervals, of about fifteen minutes,
like the low rumble of distant thunder. The citizens said it was
the heavy cannon at Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, more
than a hundred miles away on an air line. Marched early on the
sixth, through a flat, sandy and swampy country, the principal
productions of which were rice, alligators and negroes. The ne-
groes being the most profitable, the whites had .devoted their prin-
cipal attention to that production. On the plantation on which
the Regiment encamped at night was a negro overseer, and the
negroes said that he was more severe upon them than any white
man they had ever had for a driver. We were covering the
Fourteenth Army Corps; the other brigade, with Kilpatrick, had
gone to cover the right flank of the army. The Rebel cavalry
were following us up, but thev did not dash into us very hard;
still, the cavalrymen were being shot every day on that long
march, and the ambulances were loaded down with the wounded
men. Marched early on the seventh. It had rained during
the night, and it rained all day, and the swamps became almost
impassable. We were marching south, along the right bank of
the Savannah River, the infantry in advance, our Brigade follow-
ing, and the Rebel cavalry following us. On the river, the enemy
had a little steamer, with a heavy piece of artillery on it, prob-
ably a 32-pounder, with which he occasionally shelled the Yan-
kees; it made a terrific noise, but did little or no damage. ,A
soldier, this day, in his diary, writes : "We are now marching
close to the Savannah River, the boundary line between Georgia
and South Carolina, the State that was the hot-bed of treason, the
author of all the Nation's troubles. It would please us bovs to
travel in that State, and, undoubtedly, we shall pay them a visit
some day in the future. ' Uncle Billy' is ' on the rampage,' and
if he don't ' go through' South Carolina, it will be because the war
shall end before he ' gets a good ready.' "
On the eighth of December, the command marched, at twc
o'clock in the morning. The Ninth Ohio Cavalry held the rear 1 ,
and soon after daylight, the enemv showed considerable spirit and
dash, attacking constantly the rear guard. The country was
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 195
generally level and sandy, with little streams crossing the road
frequently, and emptying into the Savannah River. These
streams always had a swamp on both sides of them, filled
with a dense growth of black gum, and other trees that grow in
swampy places, covered with parasites. Neither animals nor
wheels could get through the swamps, except upon the corduroy
roads. The pioneers would cut large trees nearly off, and, when
our rear guard had passed, they were felled into the road, upon
the narrow corduroy, to impede the enemv following. About
noon, the command crossed one of these swamps, and found the
infantry bivouacing, waiting for the building of the bridge over
Ebenezer Creek. An officer of the Ninety-Second writes in an
old manuscript: "The enemy were pressing the Ninth Ohio
hard, and at this swamp we must stop them. The cavalry bri-
gade was deploved on the right of the road, facing the rear, and
covering the swamp, while a brigade of General Baird's infantry
was deployed on the other side of the road. The entrance to the
swamp was more abrupt than usual, giving us a good opportunity
to barricade the road. The Ninth Ohio held them finely, while
the brigade deployed and made preparations. I was with the
Ninth Ohio, riding with Colonel Hamilton ; and, hearing a yell
like the Johnnies alwavs set up when they charge, I looked and
saw a long column coming in on a road to our left, so as to cut
off about half of the Ninth Ohio, including Colonel Hamilton
and myself; but, fortunately, a Corpora! and six Ninety-Second
men, with their repeating rifles, were picketing that road. The
enemy was charging in column of fours; I could see the column
plainly, and could hear the Rebel officers urging on their men.
But the Corporal, with his six men, pumped bullets into the
head of that column so rapidly that they halted it, and held the
road until the Ninth Ohio had passed the swamp, and the road
over the corduroy had been barricaded with fallen trees. The
enemy dismounted, and with a long line attempted to cross the
swamp on our right, but were repulsed by Atkins's Brigade;
they then made a like attempt on our left, but were repulsed by
one of Baird's brigades of infantry. They then held a steady line
on one side of the swamp, and we on the other. After dark, we
pushed our skirmish line out into the swamp, and the enemy did
the same; and while relieving our skirmish line during the night,
great caution had to be observed, to avoid relieving the Rebel
skirmishers instead of our own. It was verv dark, and the skir-
mishers were behind trees, not more than twenty or thirty paces
196 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
apart, and they avoided the tedium of watching on the skirmish
line by chaffering each other. The Rebels said they would drown
the whole pack of Sherman's thieves in the swamps about Savan-
nah, and our men replied that Savannah would be in our posses-
sion within three days. I sat down by a fire, under a tree in the
middle of the road, a little distance in rear of our line of battle;
and it was all quiet during the evening, except occasional skir-
mish firing. About twelve o'clock at night, General Baird's
division of infantry withdrew, to cross Ebenezer Creek ; and, as
the head of an infantry brigade came into the road where, by the
fire, I was sitting, a couple of rifled shell went screaming and
richocheting up the road, close by the fire. Two more shots were
fired, and then the Rebels ran their artillery to the rear. The
boys called to them to keep their guns there a little while, and
thev would come over and get them ; and the Rebels replied, ' Go
to .' But we did not want to go." Another officer, in his
diary, wrote on the evening of this day: "I am sitting by a
camp-fire, writing on my knees, and the boys are spinning their
varns, and telling each other their big lies. The negroes come
into our lines by hundreds, but we cannot do anything for them.
They are of all sizes, all ages, all sexes, and all colors, from the
whitest white to coal black; women of all ages, and little children,
all barefooted, and with scarcely clothing enough to cover them.
We ask them, ' Where are you going?' and they answer, ' With
you all.' They are objects of pity. All have their ideas of free-
dom. They say they knew we would come, and that their
masters had told them that we would kill them, but that 'Old
Massa and Missus couldn't fool us in dat way.' " At three
o'clock, on the morning of December ninth, the cavalry brigade
followed the infantry over the creek, the Ninety-Second covering
the rear. Four companies of the Regiment were detailed to
guard the pioneers while they were destroying the bridge, and
barricading the road through the swamp. An officer with the
detail writes in his diary: "No sleep last night. We have
crossed Ebenezer Creek. Three companies besides ours are
here, guarding the pioneers while they destroy the bridge, and
obstruct the road through the swamp. (I fell asleep while writing
the above, and took a nap.) Last night, about twelve o'clock, the
Rebels opened their artillery on us; it created quite a commotion.
Their shell fell among us, but did no damage. The Rebel gun-
boats threw shell yesterday into the road, near where we are now.
I ha-ve no prospect of any breakfast yet, but I am not very nun-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 197
gry. What this day will bring forth I cannot tell, but I do not
think we will be troubled with the enemy to-day. We have de-
stroyed the bridge, and obstructed the road through the swamp.
Nine o'clock A. M. Two of Company I men have just been
shot near the bridge ; one man, of Company A, was wounded, the
same ball killing a soldier back of him. I have been watching a
sight that will never pass from my memory. There have been
hundreds of negroes, men, women, and children, following our
army. Last night, on the other side of the bridge, at the edge of
the swamp, thev were all turned out by the guards, and not per-
mitted to pass, by the order of General Jeff. C. Davis, command-
ing the Fourteenth Army Corps, and the command crossed, and
the bridge was destroyed, leaving all the negroes on the other side.
At this present writing, the negroes are crossing; some swim-
ming, and some crossing on rafts. The Rebels came up and fired
into them ; and such another time I never want to witness. They
are as afraid of the Rebels as they would be of wild beasts, for
the negroes know that it will be death, or worse, for them to fall
into the hands of the Rebels, after leaving with the Yankees.
Some of them jumped into the water, and others crawled under
the bank on the other side, the women and children screaming
piteously at the top of their voices. Some of the children were
drowned. They are getting across as fast as possible, and I think
most of them will succeed ; but thev are most pitiable looking
objects, when they get over, and out of range of the Rebels.
Most of them have on very little clothing, and every thread of
that wet; and here they stand around the fires, shivering with the
cold, and the poor women and children crying as if their hearts
would break. And what is all this for? It is for freedom; they
are periling their lives for freedom, and it seems to me that any
people who run such risks are entitled to freedom. For my part,
I never believed it policy to let them follow our army at all; for
an army on the march has enough to do to take care of itself,
without being encumbered with such a helpless lot of non-
combatants. I do not believe there is any one in this army to
blame for their leaving their homes ; but, as they have been al-
lowed to come along part of the way, unmolested, I believe it is
a burning shame and disgrace, and inhuman to leave them to
struggle in thirty feet of water for their lives; for they prefer
sinking in the water to returning to slavery."
About ten o'clock A. M., the Brigade was ordered to join Kil-
patrick, and marched immediately to the Georgia Central Rail-
198 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
way, and encamped. The same officer of the Ninety-Second
again writes in his diary : " Since writing the foregoing, we have
marched in a south-easterly direction; what the distance is I do
not know-. I must say a little more about the negroes I spoke of
this morning. When the Rebels fired and killed the men at the
bridge, they made the negroes all go back that had not got over
Ebenezer Creek. One negro woman fell in with us three days
ago. She said she would go with us or perish. She had then a
small child. I saw her this morning, on this side of the creek ;
she had lost her child, but how, I do not know. She herself
crossed the creek by swimming. I saw a negro man and woman
on this side of the creek, who had crossed by swimming, and their
little boy was drowned, and the mother was crying as though her
heart would break. I believe her boy was as dear to her moth-
er's heart as if she and her child had been white. The sights I
this morning witnessed I cannot get out of my mind. Supper is
ready ; it is eleven o'clock, and I will close for this day." An-
other officer of the Ninety-Second writes : " All the way through
Georgia we found the negroes our friends, ready to give us any
information or assistance in their power. It was useless for old
master to hide his horses and mules, for Sambo would tell us at
once where they were. It did no good to empty the smoke-house
and bury the me.at, for the slave that did the work was always
ready to point out the exact spot of its burial. If the corn was
carried away into the swamps and hid, as, indeed, it often was, it
did no good, for some slave was ready to tell us where it was.
Stopping at a house, one day, while the men of the Ninety-Sec-
ond were getting the corn from the well-filled crib close by, I
heard one of the men asking the women 'where their meal was.
The white women said they had none, but an old negro woman,
pointing to a swamp, said : ' Ole Massa out dar, wid all de meat
and meal dar is.' The men went to find it. I heard the report of
a Spencer rifle, and by and bv the men came back, loaded down
with hams and corn-meal. One of the men rode up to me and
said: ' I found the old man in the swamp, with lots of hams and
meal, on a pile of loose cotton, and when we came in sight he set
the cotton on fire and ran but my Spencer halted him.' The
young ladies, who had just informed me that they had no
father, listened to the soldier, and, in concert and in tears, cried
out: 'Father is killed.' At the sight of their grief I could not
repress my own tears, and regretted that the soldier had not let
the old man escape. While the white people were so intensely
NINETT-SECOND ILLINOIS. 199
bitter in their feelings toward the hated Yankees that they would
burn up their food rather than permit it to fall into our hands a
thing proper enough to be done by the regular troops of the Rebel
army, but not proper for citizens and women the negroes, on the
contrary, hailed our coming with great joy, as if the promised day
of jubilee had arrived. Many a time I have seen the negro men
and women standing by the roadside, weeping and laughing al-
ternately, and shouting: ' Bress de Lord, you all's come atlas.
I'se always knowed de good Lord would heah my prayah, and
send de Yankees down heah.' It may be that the Lord of Heaven
did hear the prayers of the humble black people of the South, and
sent the victorious Stars and Stripes, emblem of liberty in deed
and in truth to them, the faithful friends of the Yankees, waiting
patiently and praying fervently for their coming. Did one of the
Union prisoners escape from the horrible prison pen at Ander-
sonville, and, fixing his eye on the North star, which had filled the
hopes of many a fugitive slave flying from bondage, traveling by
night and bv stealth through that hostile country, tracked by
bloodhounds, as the fugitive slave had been tracked, wish for a
friend, or for food, or for shelter, the flying Union soldier knew
that the humble cabin of the black slave would safely furnish it
all to him. During the long march through Georgia, the negroes
had everywhere been our faithful friends and allies, and, literally
in thousands, were following our armies out of bondage; and,
had the Union Generals been heartily in favor of negro troops,
they might have organized whole brigades and divisions on this
inarch. Before daylight, this morning, the ninth of December,
the Fourteenth Army Corps, commanded by General JefF. C.
Davis, crossed Ebenezer Creek ; and, by the order of General
Davis, a guard was stationed at the bridge that would not permit
a negro man, woman or child to cross. Poor, simple people, thev
thought it was because the whites must cross first, and they quietly
and patientlv waited by the roadside, filling the woods at daylight
as far as the eye could see, never dreaming that they were to be
entirely debarred the privilege of crossing, nor did they know it
until the pioneers were tearing away the bridge after the last
white soldier had crossed. Lett, cruelly left, to the bitter mercies
of the infuriated enemy following us! And the negroes were the
only class of people we had found on our long march who were
our faithful, fast friends; a simple-minded, God-fearing people,
who had wrestled in secret prayer, beseeching the God of battles
that victory might be with our army, and now they are cut oft"
200 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
and left behind. And then such a wild panic as seized them ;
such bitter, heartrending cries of despair; such pitiful, beseeching
entreaties to be permitted (o cross, I never before witnessed or list-
ened to. They ran wildly up and down the stream ; many plunged
in and struggled through, and many sank beneath the dark waters
to rise no more. And those people our friends. Let the ' iron
pen of history' write the comment on this action of a Union Gen-
eral." During the ninth of December, we marched through a
country settled long before the Revolutionary war. We passed
one old church erected in 1769, that had been used as a hospital
by the soldiers of the Revolution.
Marched early, on the tenth of December, and camped at three
P. M., nine miles from Savannah, covering the Seventeenth Ar-
my Corps, commanded by General Frank P. Blair. It rained
during the night, and the weather grew cold. Marched at eight
A. M., on the eleventh of December, and camped within six
miles of Savannah, the infantry cannonading the Rebel works.
There was no forage for animals, and the cattle that had been
driven along with the army, and killed for beef, were so poor and
weak that they had to be held up to be knocked down ; and the
meat was so dry the men could not fry or broil it; and when boiled,
it was as tough and almost as innutritions as leather. A soldier, in
his diary, writes: " I have just divided my last hara-tack with
some starving little children." On the tenth, lav all day in rear
of the Seventeenth Army Corps. On the eighteenth, the Brigade
marched at nine A. M., and, at one point, ran the gauntlet of the
Rebel artillery and riflemen in a Rebel fort. Marched twenty
miles, crossing the Ogeechee, at King's Bridge, and camping
after dark, on Clay's plantation, .near Fort McAllister. Hazen's
division of infantry had taken Fort McAllister during the after-
noon. The negroes said that Clay had, in his rice plantation,
nine thousand nine hundred and twenty acres of land ; he had two
hundred able-bodied slaves, and his negro quarters made quite a
village. Near the house was an extensive rice mill, which
Clay instructed his slaves to burn, if the Yankees came near; they
did so, and the Yankees burned up everything else that would
burn.' By the fall of Fort McAllister, communication was opened
with the Yankee fleet lying in Ossabaw Sound, and General Kil-
patrick visited one of the Yankee gun-boats. Rice in the straw
was all the forage the animals had, and the men had little or
nothing. One of the Brigade Orderlies had captured a turkey,
and the Colonel commanding the Brigade was calculating on a
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 201
feast for supper; but when his cook turned his back a moment to
tell the Colonel that supper was ready, some hungry soldier gob-
bled the roasted gobbler, and the Brigade Commander went
supperless to bed. By daylight next morning, the Yankee fleet,
loaded with rations, was at King's Bridge.
While Sherman was taking steps to reduce Savannah, the cav-
alry had to be subsisted upon the country ; and the Division
marched early, on the fourteenth of December, to Midway
Church, nine miles from Sunbury, and camped amidst abund-
ance of forage for animals, and plenty of hams, sweet potatoes,
turkeys, chickens, etc., for the men. Midway Church was
guarded from spoliation, as was also the grave-yard close by,
which was walled in with a heavy brick fence, built before the
Revolutionary War, the brick having been brought from
England. It was a sombre place. Great live oak trees, covered
with long hanging Spanish moss, stood, like mourning sentinels,
above the tombs. Graves were found with inscriptions a hundred
and fifty years old. A soldier of the Ninetv-Second, in his diarv,
writes: "Our Commander has placed a guard over the church
and grounds, to see that nothing is injured. The people here pay
a great deal of attention to their dead, and to their religion.
Their slaves get one pint of salt, and four pecks of corn, in a
month, to eat, and nothing else. Who says they are not a Chris-
tian people?" On the fifteenth, the command lay in camp. A
soldier writes in his diary : " To-day we obtained permission,
and organized a party, to go to the Atlantic coast. Sunbury, at
the head of St. Catharine's Sound, is where we went, and, for the
first time in my life, I saw the salt water. I rode my horse into
it, but he did not drink it. I bathed in the salt water; gathered
and ate oysters; and s;i\v, in the distance, a United States man-of-
war, and a gun-boat of our blockading squadron. Sunbury is one
of the oldest settled towns in the State of Georgia. During the
Revolution, the British captured and destroyed it, and marched
from Sunbury to Savannah. At that time, this country was all
settled up: many of the lands that were tilled then are now fine
forests, with trees from ten to sixteen inches in diameter. We
visited old Fort Sunbury : it was once a strong fort. There was
one 64-pounder, and one 12-pound gun, lying in the fort." The
Division marched at six P. M., the Ninety-Second in rear of
e\*rvlhing. The roads were badly cut up. Camped late.
Marched at ten A. M., on the sixteenth, to King's Bridge, and went
into permanent camp, in the pine woods bordering the Ogeechee,
202 NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS.
not far from the ship-landing, from which Sherman's troops about
Savannah were to get supplies of hard-tack, sow-belly, and am-
munition. At two P. M., the Division, under command of Colo-
nel Atkins, marched again toward Midway, in rear of General
Mower's division of infantry, on an expedition to Altamaha
River, to destroy the railroad and railroad bridges on the Savan-
nah and Gulf Railroad. The infantry wagon trains were fast in
the mud. Long after dark, the command bivouaced, having
inarched but six miles. Only five companies of the Ninety-
Second accompanied the command. At daylight, marched to
Midway, ted animals, and cooked breakfast. Marched at nine
A. M., passed the infantry, and took the advance, and halted for
dinner at Hinesville, a very pretty little town, quite a resort in
summer for the rice planters. The country was full of forage
and provisions.
Len Lockridge, of Company D, was picking up provisions for
General Kilpatrick, and, after the command had marched through
Hinesville, Len returned with a wagon load of such eatables as he
had gathered. Riding ahead of the wagon intoj Hinesville, he
ran into a squad of Rebel cavalrv belonging to Hawkins's brigade.
They had on blue overcoats, and, supposing them to be our own
men, Len rode right in among them. There were seven of the
Rebels. They stripped Lockridge of all his clothing, except pants
and shirt, and took him to Hawkins's head-quarters, and, after be-
ing examined by Hawkins, he was ordered to be taken to the
head-quarters of General Iverson, at two o'clock in the morning.
It was twelve o'clock at night, and, until the party were ready to
start with him, they put Lockridge into an old church, under
guard. Lying down near the pulpit, as if to sleep, he saw that he
might crawl under the seats to the door. His guards were nap-
ping, and he crawled carefully under the seats back to the church
door, determined to escape if possible. As he approached the
door, once through which and into the woods, he felt he would
be safe from the pursuit of his too careless guards, he saw, bv
the fire outside, two bloodhounds. His heart, panting to escape,
sank at the sight; to spring from that door was to be seized by
tltose bloodhounds, and he might as well face a Rebel prison-pen.
He quietly crawled back again. At two o'clock A. M., a Rebel
Captain and five men started with him to Iverson's head-quarters;
at the end of eleven miles, one man was relieved, and at the end
of the next ten miles, two men were relieved, and not long after
that the Captain and one man stopped at a house, leaving Lock-
NINETY-SECOND ILLINOIS. 203
ridge in charge of but one guard, who was told to shoot him if he
attempted to get away. A little farther on, they came to a house
where a woman stood at the door, and Lockridge requested his
guard to get him a drink of water. The woman handed a cala-
bash of water to the guard, and he handed it to Lockridge ; after
drinking, he returned the calabash to the guard, who was sitting
on his horse, with his guri across the pommel of his saddle, and
just as the guard was reaching the calabash back to the woman,
Lockridge struck the guard with his fist, knocking him from his
horse, and, grabbing the guard's gun, he beat him over the head
with it; then, mounted on the guard's horse, he dashed up the
road, and as soon as out of sight of the house he took to the woods.
He rode rapidly four or five miles, when his horse gave out and
mired in a swamp, and Lockridge kept on on foot. At sundown,
he could hear the hounds baying on his track. The Rebel gun
he held in his hand would not do for a pack of bloodhounds. To
climb into a tree, safe from their pursuit, would only be to wait
until the hounds came up, accompanied by his pursuers. To
escape the hounds and the pursuing Rebels, he swam the Alta-
maha River, and learning its course by its current, he kept down
the river on the other side. He had gone about five miles, when
he heard the hounds again, and he again crossed the river, and
kept on down the stream, and again hearing the hounds, he again
swam the river. Lockridge traveled on day and night, for sev-
enty hours, through swamps and woods, shunning the road, along
which the Rebel courier line ran. He grew hungry, and would
craAvl up back of the houses until he would see men about, and
then skulk back into the woods again. At length he found a
house with no men about it, and entered it and helped himself to
cold victuals from the cupboard, and hastened to the woods to eat,
the first he had tasted for seventy-two hours. And so he kept on,
through swamp and cane-brake, for four days and nights. Dur-
ing the fourth night he saw a fire in the woods, and, fearing it
might be a Rebel picket, he cautiously crawled up to it, and found
a single old negro asleep by the fire. Stalking up to him, with
his gun, he pretended to be a Rebel soldier, and endeavored to
learn his surroundings; but the old negro was so dumb he could
get no information from him. Lockridge changed his tactics,
and told the old black man that he was a Yankee soldier, trying
to escape .from the Rebels, and then the old negro was intelligent
and chatty. The old negro became his guide, and procured an
axe, with which they made a raft and crossed the Altamuha River,
i04 N1NETT-SECOKD ILLINOIS.
At daylight he hid in the woods, and the old negro brought him
his breakfast; he lay in the woods all day, and in the evening the
old negro brought him his supper, and was again his guide; and
they traveled all night, making about twenty miles, when the old
negro again brought him his breakfast, and turned him over to a
friend, another negro, who was his guide the next night. And
thus guided and helped on his way by the negroes, he reached the
Yankee lines eight days after his capture.
The Cavalry Division camped after dark, on December eight-
eenth, at Johnston's Station. A lady residing there, said that
when the Union prisoners were taken South, she went to the
train with a basket of food, but that the guard would not let her
give it to the Yankees. She saw one Yankee prisoner pick up a
kernel of corn, and the guard made him throw it away again.
The command marched early on the nineteenth, crossed Jones's
Creek, and marched to the Altamaha River, opposite Doctor-
town, the intention being to burn the railroad bridge crossing the
river; but the Rebels had a fort protecting the bridge. The
Ninety-Second marched out into the swamps, dismounted, to flank
the fort, but was ordered back, and the command withdrew. The
Rebels ran an engine with a flat car ahead of it, from Doctortown
to the fort; on the flat car was a cannon, and the Rebels blazed
away with it, until a section of our jo-pound rifled Rodmans
opened in replv, when they ran their railroad artillerv to the rear.
A long, high trestle was destroyed. The command returned to
Johnston's Station, and camped, after dark. In fording Jones's
Creek, a large number of horses were drowned. Marched at
seven A. M., on the twentieth, to Jonesville, and camped amidst
plenty of forage for animals and plenty for the men to 'eat.
Marched next day, to Riceboro. The people had seen nothing of
the war, and wer
