This address was eagerly sought for, and read with the greatest pride and delight by all the soldiers of the Division. Every copy that could be supplied was taken and preserved as a choice memento, or sent home to friends. The boys read and re-read it so often that some even had it committed to memory. Neither in it nor in its author could any one see a blemish. Well, whocould blame us for rejoicing in our splendid victory, and in our idol and ideal general? If our comrades of other corps could not see it as we did, surely they should have been willing to allow us to believe that there was no division like the "Fighting Fourth," and no general like "Old Steve." To them the order may have seemed too eloquent—too boastful, and we, in the excess of our delight over it, making a ridiculous display of vain conceit. But was not the theme an eloquent one?—and who had a better right to boast thanourgeneral, and who to be proud thanwe?
General Grant viewed these battles at a distance, though he controlled the general movements. His order of thanks was more temperate, and perhaps more appropriate. It read as follows:
Head Quarters, District of West Tennessee, }Jackson, Tenn., October 7th, 1862. }General Orders,No. 88.It is with heartfelt gratitude that the General commanding congratulates the armies of the West for another great victory won by them on the 3d, 4th, and 5th instant over the combined forces of Van Dorn and Lovell.The enemy chose his own time and place of making the attack, and knowing the troops of the West as he does, never would have made the attack, except with a superior force, numerically. But for the undaunted bravery of officers and soldiers, who have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the enemy would have been successful.Whilst one division of the army under Major General Rosecrans was resisting and repelling the onslaught of the enemy at Corinth, another from Bolivar under Major General Hurlbut, was marching upon the enemy's rear, driving in his pickets and cavalry, and attracting the attention of a large force of infantry and artillery. On the following day, under Major General Ord, these forces advanced with unsurpassed gallantry, driving the enemy back across the Hatchie, over ground where it is almost incredible that a superior force should be driven by an inferior, capturing two batteries (eight guns), many hundred small arms, and several hundred prisoners. To these two divisions of the army all praise is due, and will be awarded by a grateful country.Between them there should be, and I trust there is, the warmest bonds of brotherhood. Each was risking his life in the same cause, and on this occasion risking it to save and assist the other. No troops could do more than these separated armies. Each did all possible for it to do in the place assigned it.As in all great battles, so in this, it becomes our fate to mourn the loss of many brave and faithful officers and soldiers, who have given up their lives a sacrifice for a great principle. The nation mourns for them.By command of Major General Grant,John A. Rawlins, A. A. G.
Head Quarters, District of West Tennessee, }Jackson, Tenn., October 7th, 1862. }
General Orders,No. 88.
It is with heartfelt gratitude that the General commanding congratulates the armies of the West for another great victory won by them on the 3d, 4th, and 5th instant over the combined forces of Van Dorn and Lovell.
The enemy chose his own time and place of making the attack, and knowing the troops of the West as he does, never would have made the attack, except with a superior force, numerically. But for the undaunted bravery of officers and soldiers, who have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the enemy would have been successful.
Whilst one division of the army under Major General Rosecrans was resisting and repelling the onslaught of the enemy at Corinth, another from Bolivar under Major General Hurlbut, was marching upon the enemy's rear, driving in his pickets and cavalry, and attracting the attention of a large force of infantry and artillery. On the following day, under Major General Ord, these forces advanced with unsurpassed gallantry, driving the enemy back across the Hatchie, over ground where it is almost incredible that a superior force should be driven by an inferior, capturing two batteries (eight guns), many hundred small arms, and several hundred prisoners. To these two divisions of the army all praise is due, and will be awarded by a grateful country.
Between them there should be, and I trust there is, the warmest bonds of brotherhood. Each was risking his life in the same cause, and on this occasion risking it to save and assist the other. No troops could do more than these separated armies. Each did all possible for it to do in the place assigned it.
As in all great battles, so in this, it becomes our fate to mourn the loss of many brave and faithful officers and soldiers, who have given up their lives a sacrifice for a great principle. The nation mourns for them.
By command of Major General Grant,John A. Rawlins, A. A. G.
I must not omit the President's congratulatory letter, written in his characteristic way, which General Grant published in the following order:
Head Quarters, District of West Tennessee, }Jackson, Tenn., October 17, 1862. }General Orders,No. 89.The following dispatch from the President of the United States of America, has been officially received, and is published to the armies in this District.Washington, D. C., Oct. 8, 1862.Major General Grant; I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up? I especially regret the death of General Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of General Oglesby, who is a personal and intimate friend.A. Lincoln.By command of Major General Grant,John A. Rawlins, A. A. G.
Head Quarters, District of West Tennessee, }Jackson, Tenn., October 17, 1862. }
General Orders,No. 89.
The following dispatch from the President of the United States of America, has been officially received, and is published to the armies in this District.
Washington, D. C., Oct. 8, 1862.
Major General Grant; I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up? I especially regret the death of General Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of General Oglesby, who is a personal and intimate friend.A. Lincoln.
By command of Major General Grant,John A. Rawlins, A. A. G.
Organization and changes—Reconnoissance by General Ross—Disposition of the Hatchie prisoners—The State election in our regiments—Effect of the news of the Northern elections upon our troops—Wild reports of the enemy's advance—Fortifying—Preparations for a general advance—Arrival of General Grant—Grand review—Arrival of new regiments—Reorganization of our division—General marching orders—First day's march—Second day's march—Vandalism of the troops—Junction with the left wing—Our camp at LaGrange—Order against vandalism—Position of the enemy—Preparations and reconnoissances—Daily inspection of ammunition—Arrival of Colonel Williams—Resignation of Lieut. Col. Trumbull—The Somerville march—Reviews and marching orders.
Organization and changes—Reconnoissance by General Ross—Disposition of the Hatchie prisoners—The State election in our regiments—Effect of the news of the Northern elections upon our troops—Wild reports of the enemy's advance—Fortifying—Preparations for a general advance—Arrival of General Grant—Grand review—Arrival of new regiments—Reorganization of our division—General marching orders—First day's march—Second day's march—Vandalism of the troops—Junction with the left wing—Our camp at LaGrange—Order against vandalism—Position of the enemy—Preparations and reconnoissances—Daily inspection of ammunition—Arrival of Colonel Williams—Resignation of Lieut. Col. Trumbull—The Somerville march—Reviews and marching orders.
Brigadier Gen. Lauman assumed command of the 4th Division, and Colonel Pugh again took command of the 1st Brigade, which he had commanded so well in the battle of Shiloh. Major General McPherson was put in command of the 2d Division of the District of Jackson,—embracing the country around Bolivar held by the 4th Division and the troops of General Ross, the previous command of General Hurlbut and still included in his command,—with his headquarters at Bolivar.
On the 9th of October, General Ross went out to reconnoiter in the direction of Ripley, but returnedwithout meeting anything of consequence. We again relapsed into the quiet of camp life, and began our customary drills and reviews. Our wounded were cared for in the hospitals at Bolivar, but as fast as they were able to be moved, were sent to Jackson and further north. The prisoners taken in the late battle were sent under escort of the 28th Illinois to Holly Springs, and delivered over to be exchanged.
While at this camp we witnessed among ourselves the novel experiment of soldiers being allowed to vote on matters which pertain to their State, and to their several communities at home. The commissioner appointed, in pursuance of the act of the Legislature, to take the vote of our regiment, P. F. Crane, Esq., of Fayette county, arrived several days before that of the election, and much of the time during his stay with us enjoyed the hearty but rough hospitalities of Company F. No military duty interfering, the election was held on the usual day for the State, the 14th of the month. That morning theminorswere sent on picket to give all the legal voters a chance. The polls were opened at the Adjutant's tent. The whole affair passed off with a marvelous degree of quiet and order. There was no drunkenness, no wire-pulling, no trickery, no coercion, no undue persuasion. If some of our fellow citizens at home could have witnessed the election, characterized by not a single disgraceful scene, but where every man, like a citizen sovereign, voted unquestioned the ticket of his choice, they would have been put to shame at the disgraceful conduct which marks many elections held amid the restraining influences of society and civilization.And could they have seen it, how it would have put to shame (if aught could put to shame), the detested, corrupt, traitorous and cowardly crew, who advocated the withholding of this just and simple right from the men who, they would allege, had forfeited it, because they had placed themselves a voluntary living wall between them and their country's foes! No event ever did more honor to the patriotism and wisdom of a legislative body, than did these elections to the Legislature of Iowa. Most of those who had hitherto voted or sympathized with the Democratic party, viewing its present workings as tending more to embarrass the Government than to reform its abuses, the vote for its candidates was very light—less than forty out of about three hundred votes cast. (I write from memory and can not give the official figures.) And what was still more significant, Mahoney, the traitor, only got two votes!
When the results of the Northern elections became known, it cast a gloom over the great majority of our regiment, and of the regiments around us. A crushing defeat of our main armies would not have had so chilling an effect on themoraleof our best troops as this. Waiving all consideration of the questions involved, it was too plain to all that these elections indicated a dissatisfaction with the administration, an opposition to the prosecution of the war, a sympathy with the common enemy, and in general, a disaffection among the people, where all should be struggling unitedly for the salvation of the Republic. Though many good and patriotic men acted with the party, we could not but see that, with scarcely an exception, every traitor in the Northlikewise acted with it, and we heard with mortification and rage the exultations of the enemy, who proclaimed its triumph as a triumph of their cause among us. But the most alarming feature of this indication of disaffection to the Government was, that it took place at a time when the two main armies of the enemy were scarcely checked in their marches of victory,—when his hordes on the Potomac and the Ohio had scarcely begun to recoil from their attempted invasion of our homes and firesides. That, at a time when the public danger increased, a portion of the people should have increased their factious opposition to the Government, was to the brave soldiers struggling against an all but successful enemy, really disheartening. In such times as these, it should be the chief lesson of the citizen to learn, that, however weak or lacking in wisdom the Chief of the State may be, the only resource of the nation's safety is for the people to rally around him as one man, and to accomplish by spontaneous action what he fails to do. Honor and gratitude to those who stand by their country's Chief when danger thickens; but to those who desert him and turn against him, let due infamy be accorded.
We still had wild and ridiculous reports of the enemy advancing upon us in great force. The MemphisBulletinpromulgated them, and many of the soldiers believed them with a credulity that was disgraceful. They did not stop to think that the enemy's army was numerically less than ours; and that his force being manifestly equal to ours at all other points, could not be superior to it here. Whether the generals believedthese reports or not, it is difficult to say. At least they began to construct fortifications at Bolivar, and for this purpose heavy details were made each day, and the work was pressed vigorously until, under the personal supervision of Major General McPherson, himself an engineer of the first order, a line of works were constructed by no means inferior in character, and capable of protecting the front of a large army.
But in the midst of these defensive operations, preparations for a general advance began. A six months supply of clothing, camp and garrison equipage, was issued to the troops; draught animals were shod, and wagons put in a state of repair; and an immense quantity of ordnance stores was brought forward. On the 28th of October the guns of Fort Sanderson announced the arrival of Major General Grant. In making preparations for a campaign, the first thing a general wants to know is the number and condition of his effective troops, and in order to make this investigation in a satisfactory manner, it is very desirable that he shouldseethem. Accordingly the following morning was memorable for a grand review. The two divisions were drawn up in hollow square near Fort Sanderson. The lines thus formed were nearly three miles in length, exclusive of cavalry and artillery. The appearance of General Grant was the signal for a salvo of thirteen guns. He rode at a slow walk along the lines, eyeing the troops with great scrutiny. Exclusive of numbers, there was not in this review much of the "pomp and circumstance of war." At those points of the line where the General was at a distance and not approaching, themen, excessively fatigued with standing still, sat down, and in some places the ranks became quite broken. We then passed in review before the General, and returned to our camp through suffocating clouds of dust.
Meanwhile new regiments, organized in the summer, began to arrive, and were distributed among the old brigades. The 4th Division was re-organized so as to be composed of three brigades, the 1st under command of Colonel Pugh, the 2d, of Colonel Hall, 14th Illinois, the 3d under command of the gallant E. K. Johnson, of the 28th Illinois. The 1st Brigade was composed of the 3d Iowa, 53d and 103d Illinois; the 2d Brigade of the 14th, 15th, 46th and 76th Illinois; the 3d Brigade of the 28th and 32d Illinois, and the 53d Indiana and 12th Wisconsin. The latter was a splendid regiment numbering nearly a thousand men. It had seen much service, but had never been in action. The 25th Indiana was detached from the division some time after this at LaGrange. Until then it continued with the 2d Brigade.
On the 1st of November we received marching orders. The recent order of General Halleck, reducing the transportation of the army, was now in our cases put into effect. We were to take but six teams to the regiment. Officers were required to confine their baggage to valises instead of trunks, and to turn over their surplus baggage, at their option, to the Depot Quartermaster for storage, who would receipt for the same. Three days rations were taken in haversacks, and two in the wagons. Our surplus wagons were detailed to haul the baggage of the 103d.
At daylight the camps had disappeared from the fields, the batteries were limbered up, long lines of baggage wagons stood where the camps had been, and dark columns of infantry completed the scene. Before eight o'clock the column stretched out on the Grand Junction road. The men were in excellent spirits; for it was generally believed that we were going this time to stay. The road was somewhat dusty, but the day was cool and the march easy. We made ten miles and camped south of Spring Creek, near where General Lauman had halted and shelled the enemy in his memorable retreat. General McPherson believed in military discipline; and notwithstanding the men were tired with carrying their heavy knapsacks, he caused a strong camp guard to be posted around each regiment, and ordered that the men be confined strictly to its limits. The arrangement created great displeasure towards him. It was repeated, though in a milder degree, in all our subsequent marches under him. Before night, Logan's division came up and camped near us.
The following day's march was characterized by a degree of vandalism which was disgraceful to all concerned in it, and even to the army at large. Fences and buildings were set on fire all along the line of march, and in some instances almost under the eye of General Grant. Decent respect to our General should have spared him the sight of such humiliating occurrences. Most of it was laid to the cavalry in advance.
Near Grand Junction where the State line roadcrosses the one on which we were marching, we found the head of General Hamilton's column, coming from Corinth, but now at a halt and waiting for our column to defile past and take the LaGrange road to the right.
The right wing, General McPherson, went into camp around LaGrange, and the left wing along Wolf River, south of Grand Junction, and near Davis' Bridge. The 3d Iowa went into camp that night on the precise ground it had occupied in the summer. General McPherson established his headquarters in an elegant building near us. The railroad was repaired from Bolivar, and preparations for a continued advance immediately began.
The vandalism of both wings of the army in burning fences and buildings on the march hither, called forth a severe order from General Grant. This failing to accomplish its purpose, another one was issued assessing the amount of property destroyed to the smallest corps to which the act could be traced, whether division, brigade, regiment, company, detachment, or single man; the amount to be assessed against them, or him, on their pay rolls, and deducted from their pay. This had the desired effect for a while, but it was soon forgotten.
The enemy under Van Dorn and Price were camped south of us, at, or this side of Holly Springs. The time we lay at this point was consumed in preparatory reconnoissances, rebuilding the railroad bridge over Wolf River south of Grand Junction, and otherwise preparing for a general invasion of Mississippi.
About noon, November 5th, an order came to ourregiment to march immediately in light order, taking one day's rations in haversacks. It was a reconnoissance of the 1st Brigade with a section of Mann's Battery, Col. Pugh in command. Captain McCall was in command of the 3d Iowa. We moved south, taking the Holly Springs road, and, when about eight miles beyond our outposts, those of the enemy came in sight. Our infantry deployed on either side of the road, and our artillery commenced throwing shells. The country was open and level, and afforded a fine view. We could see our shells strike the ground and burst about three-quarters of a mile from us.
The enemy fled, and we again advanced. About sundown our cavalry came up with the retreating cavalry of the enemy and repulsed them after a brief skirmish, in which the rebels lost one killed and two wounded. Darkness coming on, we retraced our steps and arrived in LaGrange about 9 o'clock, having made in one afternoon a march of eighteen miles, besides some skirmishing.
The following evening an order was read to our regiment on parade that the troops of the division would hold themselves in readiness to march in the morning on a reconnoissance, in force, with the exception of two regiments of Gen. Veatch's Brigade, one of which was to be left to guard Ball's Bridge, and the other as a reserve and for picket duty, and one regiment of Col. Johnson's Brigade left to guard the bridge over Wolf River on the Holly Springs road, and one battery also to be left behind. We were to be provided with two day's rations in haversacks, and one hundred rounds ofammunition to the man. The imprudence of reading such an order, on a public parade, is at once apparent. A single citizen might have conveyed its contents to the enemy, and he, taking advantage of our folly in thus informing him of our force and designs, might have punished it severely.
We moved at 9 o'clock, taking the Holly Springs road. Major General McPherson was in command, and General Lauman was also along. Captain McCall commanded the 3d Iowa. A steady march without any exciting incident brought us late in the afternoon to the brick church near Lamar, where the division had camped previously in the summer, when under Sherman. We had scarcely stacked arms when a distant noise of skirmishing began in front. At first we paid little attention to it; but soon it increased into indistinct vollies. We were ordered to keep on our accoutrements and to be ready to fall in line at any moment. Two companies, one of them Company K, of our regiment, under Lieut. Lakin of Company F, were sent out as skirmishers in a thick wood on the right. Just as we had got enough grass pulled to sleep on, we were ordered to take a new position, half a mile in advance.
We had not gone to sleep when various accounts of the skirmishing we had heard in advance began to come in. It proved to have been an affair of the cavalry. Ours, three battalions, respectively, of the 1st West Tennessee (mounted infantry), the 7th Kansas Jayhawkers (mounted infantry), and the 2d Illinois (cavalry), came up with the enemy's, consisting of two battalions of Jackson's celebrated cavalry under Col.Montgomery. A ruse was adopted to draw the rebels into a trap. Our mounted infantry dismounted and concealing themselves on either side of the road, which ran through a narrow lane, the 2d Illinois Battalion then advanced, and coming upon the enemy, appeared to be confounded at his numbers, and began a precipitate retreat. The enemy pursued with great haste, and when he came between the two lines of dismounted infantry, they opened a sudden fire upon him. "Amazement seized the rebel thrones." They whirled about in great panic and began to retreat. But before they turned, the boys had shot down several horses in the rear of their column. Upon these poor animals, plunging and floundering, now rushed the whole mass, pent up in the narrow lane. The boys closed in on them, and succeeded in securing one captain and sixty-four men, many of whom were horribly bruised and mutilated. Besides these, two or three had been killed.
But this impudent trick was soon after surpassed by the ambitious Jayhawkers. Lying in wait, they saw a large party of the enemy move up and post themselves as a grand guard. The Jayhawkers waited till they got well asleep, and then crept up behind them, and woke them up to tell them they were prisoners. The whole thing was accomplished without any noise or disturbance. A few minutes after, a sergeant came up. He, too, was taken. Then came a lieutenant and a private. They shared the same fate.
I give the accounts of these exploits furnished by men who participated in them. The prisoners we saw, talked with, and counted. They numbered a hundredand twelve. They were without uniform, though not ragged—but a dirty, wo-begone looking set. Many were horribly bruised and clotted with blood. They said that if Jackson had been in command their disaster in the lane would never have happened. But he had been promoted to be a brigadier general, and Montgomery, his successor, had proven himself incompetent to fill the place.
Most of the next day, the infantry and artillery remained where they had spent the night; but the cavalry pushed on as far as Cold Water River, where it met the enemy in force of infantry and artillery, and was forced back. We heard the dull booming of his cannon when they opened upon our cavalry, and guessed correctly what the sounds meant. Soon after, the 3d Iowa was sent forward to support the cavalry, but after advancing about two miles was recalled. The cavalry retired deliberately and the enemy did not pursue.
About four in the afternoon, we took up the return march for LaGrange. The air was cool, and when once in motion we led out at a brisk pace. The dust was somewhat annoying, but what was more so, the troops had set fire to the fields and fences, and we were compelled to march along burning lanes through intense smoke and heat, between two lines of fire. We reached our camps about eight o'clock in the evening.
After this reconnoissance, by order of General McPherson, the ammunition in the cartridge boxes of the men was inspected each day on dress parade by a staff officer sent for the purpose. Forty rounds of cartridge were furnished each man, and whenever a deficiencywas found that the soldier could not account for, he was charged at the rate of fifty cents for each cartridge. The boys were very careful never to get caught without their full number. Should they find their number short, it was easy to borrow for the time of some comrade who did not go on parade. When the marches again commenced the arrangement was dispensed with.
About this time General Lauman was succeeded in the command of the 4th Division by Brig. Gen. McKean. Our regiment listened to his parting orders with extreme regret. I do not know whether this feeling was common to the whole division; but the soldiers of the 1st Brigade felt that he was their general, and feared our division would not get another commander who would be so proud of his trust and fulfil it so well.
At LaGrange, Col. Williams again joined us. His appearance was greeted with many demonstrations of disrespect on the part of the rank and file. Captain Smith, who had been home on recruiting service, came with him. The Captain was well and warmly received. Lieutenant Crosley also joined us about that time; but was soon after detailed as aid on the staff of the brigade. Lieut. Col. Trumbull, who had been compelled to remain behind on account of sickness, joined us from Bolivar. He soon after tendered his resignation for reasons which were well understood and appreciated by his friends. It was not without much difficulty that he procured its acceptance, General McPherson at first refusing his concurrence. With scarcely an exception, he parted from us with the sincere regrets andgood wishes of the whole regiment, both officers and men.[2]
The morning of the 23d of November is memorable for the most remarkable march ever performed by our regiment. The enemy's cavalry appeared in our rear in the direction of Somerville, about sixteen miles northeast of LaGrange. Our cavalry was at the time busy with the enemy in front. Accordingly, the 3d Iowa, the 41st Illinois and a section of artillery were sent to look after them. We marched at six o'clock. Colonel Trumbull stood before his tent as we started. The tears came into the gallant Colonel's eyes as he looked at the boys for the last time. We were delayed for some reason near General McKean's head quarters, and did not leave the town till eight o'clock. Marching leisurely, and halting for a short rest, at a small stream seven miles out, we reached Somerville at one o'clock. The guerrillas were of course gone. After resting till half past two, we began the return march. Our regiment,which had hitherto been in the rear, was now in advance. The column at once assumed a brisk gait. Soon after, a courier arrived with a dispatch from Gen. McKean to hasten back, as a general movement was on foot. The speed of the march was now accelerated, so as to keep the artillery horses much of the time at a trot. The officers must have known that it was impossible for the men to march at so unreasonable a gait; to keep in the ranks was out of the question. Many fell behind and some sank exhausted by the way. It was after dark when we reached the creek where we had rested in the forenoon. Here about two hundred, including the stragglers that came up, remained and passed the night without an officer or a picket posted. It was perhaps well that the enemy did not know their situation. When we reached the pickets, many more fell out of the ranks and remained around their fires. Only about twenty men and two officers reached camp with their colors—a fitting eulogium on fast marching. Nearly all, however, were present at morning roll-call, thus showing that they did not leave the ranks from a disposition not to acquit themselves in the most creditable manner. This extraordinary march of thirty-two miles in twelve hours called forth a complimentary order from General McKean.
Meanwhile, Capt. Brown, whose resignation had been accepted at Bolivar, returned as major, and assumed command of the regiment, Col. Williams still being sick. The captain had been promoted while home, at the request of a majority of the officers of the regiment. His appointment gave very general satisfaction among the men.
General Grant returned from Columbus, whither he had been to consult with Gen. Sherman. He reviewed the troops by brigades, and caused orders to be issued for the animals to be shod and subsistence drawn for an immediate march. The enemy was in force and fortified at Abbeville, south of Holly Springs, on the Tallahatchie. General Sherman marched from Memphis on the 26th of November, taking direction to the right of his position. Orders came on the 27th for us to march in the morning at 6 o'clock, taking all our baggage, three days rations in haversacks, and two in wagons. On account of the limited transportation, we would have to carry our knapsacks, now containing our winter's supply of clothing, and very heavy. On this account we promised ourselves anything but an easy march.
The army in motion to the south—Character and scenes of the first day's march—A picture of the old soldier in bivouac, and a glance at his domestic arrangements—The march of Nov. 29.—Bivouac at Holly Springs—Marching through the city—An earthquake—The cavalry division and the enemy's rear guard—Cannonading—Camp at Lumkin's Mills—A storm—Movement of Sherman, retreat of the enemy and advance of troops—Our division left behind—Things to the front—We advance—Rebel works on the Tallahatchie—Scenes and scenery of the day's march—Camp at Hurricane Creek—Oxford—Join the main army at Yockona Creek—The 33d Wisconsin—The situation and movements—Raid of Van Dorn—Movements to open the communications.
The army in motion to the south—Character and scenes of the first day's march—A picture of the old soldier in bivouac, and a glance at his domestic arrangements—The march of Nov. 29.—Bivouac at Holly Springs—Marching through the city—An earthquake—The cavalry division and the enemy's rear guard—Cannonading—Camp at Lumkin's Mills—A storm—Movement of Sherman, retreat of the enemy and advance of troops—Our division left behind—Things to the front—We advance—Rebel works on the Tallahatchie—Scenes and scenery of the day's march—Camp at Hurricane Creek—Oxford—Join the main army at Yockona Creek—The 33d Wisconsin—The situation and movements—Raid of Van Dorn—Movements to open the communications.
Reveille sounded at 4 o'clock. We cooked breakfast, packed knapsacks and haversacks, filled canteens, loaded wagons and fell into line. Major Brown was in the saddle. It was cheering to the members of Company F, to see their former esteemed Captain at the head of the regiment. The field music struck up the old familiar marching tune, "The Girl I left behind me," and the regiment marched out and took its position in the column on the bluffs of the river. Here we waited for the 2d and 3d Brigades to pass, watching in the meantime their column of dark infantry mixed with white covered wagons, as it extended to the south. It was a grand spectacle to see the right wing of the army stretching over those broad and open fields furtherinto the land of the enemy. And when each soldier thought, "I am a part of this grand movement; little as I am, I am helping to make history," he felt an exultation known only to men in the hour of great enterprises or of great success.
The left wing was also in motion on the road south from Grand Junction. Where that road unites with the one on which we were marching, six miles south of Wolf River, the right wing halted, and the left wing assumed the advance.
The roads were most favorable for marching, but the sky was overcast with leaden clouds, and the wind blew cold and raw from the northwest. During the frequent halts occasioned by the great length of the trains, the men would tear down the fences and build fires, around which to warm themselves. So frequent were the halts, and so great the length of the column, that before night the way was almost a continuous line of fire. These fires extended through the dry leaves and stubble, and communicated themselves to the fences, till at length we seemed to be marching through a perpetual bonfire. The sun went down, and darkness began to gather around, when, all at once through a sudden rift in the gloomy clouds, the red twilight broke gloriously, while to the east whither the wind was blowing, the flames of burning fences, fields and buildings, lit up the sky, which glared vengefully upon us as we marched along. It was a scene worthy a poet or painter. It was the splendor of desolation. A vast invading army marching through a blaze of the ruin it had made! Whether it were intentional or accidental, we could not butdeplore such a destruction of property. We knew that the world would consider such doings intentional, and that they would be a lasting stigma upon our name. There were some among us that rejoiced at it; but many shuddered instinctively at seeing ourselves re-enacting the deeds which have made the name ofvandalthe execration of all ages.
The advance infantry camped for the night at Cold Water. But our division, though it marched two hours after night, camped near the familiar brick church south of Lamar. Here there was no water for the animals, and scarcely enough for the men. The wagons parked as they traveled, by brigades. On account of the weight of our knapsacks, the slowness of the march, and the frequent halts, we were excessively fatigued, and when the order was given to file to the right, we had scarcely patience enough left to go through the remaining movement of halt!—close up—front! center dress! front! fix-bayonets! shoulder-arms! stack-arms! break ranks—march!
And here a stranger could have observed in all its reality the habits of the old soldier on the march. His knapsack is packed, not according to regulations, but to suit his own convenience. His haversack contains three days rations of bread, sugar and coffee, and a sure supply of salt. For his meat he trusts chiefly to fortune and to the enemy's pig-pens and henroosts. Outside his haversack hangs all that is left of some merry oyster supper,—a small tin can with a wire bail—his coffee pot. His canteen is never empty when water can be procured, unless it contains something sweeter orstronger than water. When the regiment halts for the night and breaks ranks, his first purpose is to explore the near neighborhood, and espy and seize whatever he can of fresh meat, which having brought in, he divides liberally among his comrades, after reserving the best piece to himself. He then proceeds to improvise a fire, if his comrades have not a place for him by the side of theirs. And here let me say to all uninitiated soldiers, that whatever may be said in favor of green hickory, or dry oak tops, experience has taught me that well-seasoned rails make decidedly the best camp-fire in Secession Land. When he has built his fire, by chance he draws his gun from the stack, and brings his knapsack close to the welcome blaze, and sits down upon it, with his canteen, haversack and cartridge-box at hand. He fills his "coffee kettle" and puts it on the coals. He cuts a piece of meat, salts it, sticks his ramrod into it, and commences broiling it in the blaze. And then, should the Orderly Sergeant be heard calling him to go on guard or fatigue,—well, no one will blame me for not rehearsing word for word the strict manner in which he complains of the Fates. If he is so fortunate as to escape this, when his supper is over (relished no where so well), he gathers a heap of dry leaves, or it may be, breaks a bundle of broom sedge, upon which he spreads his blankets, and soon, his feet to the fire and his head in the land of cool air and pleasant dreams, till the morning drum or the night alarm, he is oblivious to the weary world.
Ranging among the fires, the stranger will perceive that the manner of this soldier varies greatly amongthe others. Some, like him, find it good to be alone. Others, like geese, choose their mates and go in pairs. Others, gregarious, go in herds of six or eight. These variations in the size of families, cause as many modifications in the mode of life, which in all cases has reference to the general principle of acquiring the most comfort with the least possible labor.
November 29. We were aroused early, and were ready to move at daylight. But we were to be rear guard to-day, and had to wait for other troops to move out. The sun rose. Weary and stiff, we slung knapsacks and moved into the road. Slowly and with much halting the trains took the road, and by eight o'clock the column was again in motion. The roads were dusty, and the halts were more frequent and annoying than yesterday.
At 2 P. M., we reached Cold Water, where the left wing camped last night. Here we halted to rest and water our animals, and it was after dark when the march was resumed, and we did not reach Holly Springs till 11 P. M. Here we halted for the night. We built fires of the garden fences, and made our beds of forage taken from the barns of the citizens. Who could blame us? When the alternative was a cheerless night with no supper but that in our haversacks, and a bed upon the damp ground, what soldier would have done less?
And now, once more, those of the dwellers of this beautiful city who had not fled with their retiring army, saw on all sides the camp fires of "the Invader," and heard upon their sidewalks the tread of "Vandal" sentinels.
November 30—Sunday. The drums woke us at four o'clock, and though our short sleep had illy sufficed to refresh us, the admonitions of our officers, that we were soon to march, forbade any further attempt at repose. At daylight, the 3d Iowa leading the Division, we marched through the principal street of the city, with our files neatly dressed, to the sound of martial music. Vain parade! There were no citizens to witness it—none to admire it. If we had a terror for our enemy, we had inspired it in the confusion of battle, not by keeping step on review to sounds of fife and drum.
The day was cloudy, and the wind blew soft and damp from the south. For a while we moved rapidly; but soon subsided into a more reasonable gait. In the forenoon, while taking a short rest, we experienced a perceptible shock of an earthquake, which was also felt at Cairo and St. Louis. Reports frequently came that the cavalry division under Colonel Dickey, were skirmishing with the enemy's rear guard, and that he had captured two cannon.
As we approached Lumkin's Mills, a sudden burst of artillery saluted our ears. The sound put Colonel Pugh in ecstacies; and looking around, he called out in his peculiar tone of voice, "Boys, d' ye hear that?" The discharges were frequent and the deep valleys prolonged the sounds into deep echoes such as we had never heard before. It was the cavalry division engaging the enemy's nearest troops north of the Tallahatchie. This firing lasted nearly two hours, and not knowing the cause of it, we took it to be the beginning of a general engagement. We had been the rearmostdivision in the march; and coming up with the troops of the other divisions, we found them camped on a high, commanding ridge which rises along the north bank of the stream which turns Lumkin's Mills, and overlooks a more level tract southward toward the Tallahatchie. We camped in advance of them, the 1st Brigade on the plain in the extreme advance.
The cannonade died away with the daylight; and soon after the artillery of Heaven in louder and longer echoes began to shake the hills. We hastily put up tents in expectation of a storm. It came sweeping from the west with loud crashings of thunder—a perfect tornado. Our tents fell before it, and the water ran in streams under our blankets. Many of us were compelled to seek warmth around our re-enkindled fires. And here, though the body suffered, the mind could not but feel exalted in the presence of such a grand commotion of the elements. The crashing thunder, the intense darkness, relieved only by the frequent lightnings and the camp fires of the army extending far and wide to the north, and the rushing wind, were in the highest degree sublime. In the morning God had shaken the earth; in the evening man had shaken the heavens, and now God was shaking both the heavens and the earth.
December 1st. The day was without rain, but the wind cold and raw, blew broken masses of clouds from the north. It was reported that Sherman with a strong column had crossed the Tallahatchie, nine miles below the enemy's works, flanked him and compelled him to retreat. That evening McArthur's division hastilyadvanced, and during the entire following forenoon, the troops filed through our camps, advancing to the south. Our division and that now under command of Gen. Ross were left at this point; for what purpose, officers and men were alike unable to conjecture.
Trains were sent back to Lamar for rations, and the engineer troops were busy repairing the railroad southward from that point. General Sherman returned to Memphis to begin his expedition against Vicksburg, and General Grant, his column augmented by Denver's division of Sherman's troops, was pushing forward after the enemy. The details of his marches we knew only by report. The cavalry division pushed the enemy's rear guard with splendid results. Many prisoners passed to the rear, and we listened with thrilling interest to rehearsals of the gallant conduct of this portion of the army. The character of the cavalry, so much depreciated since the battle of Shiloh, now took a sudden rise in our estimation. In the romantic ideas of some of the young soldiers, "the man on the horse" came to be all in all. And many were frequently heard, regretting their misfortune in having enlisted in the infantry.
Meantime General McKean was relieved from active duty at his own request, and early on the morning of the 11th, started north with his staff. The division had received marching orders the night before, and the same morning at six o'clock we took up the march toward the south.
The weather was soft and delightful, and the roads all that could be desired. At ten o'clock we reached theenemy's late advance works in front of the Tallahatchie. They consisted of a single line of rifle pits with embrasures at three points, sufficient each for a battery of light guns. They were by no means formidable, and the ground north of them was higher than that on which they were erected; but their field of fire was open and level, and they could not have been carried by direct assault without some loss. They were constructed to defend the bridge across the Tallahatchie. Beyond the river we came upon his main fort, its front and lateral faces angling with the river, and very nearly closing behind. It was a formidable work, its parapet thick and high, and its ditch wide and deep, with some interior arrangements which I did not comprehend, and rifle pits extending from its flanks, the whole buried in an impenetrable forest of bottom timber. So dense was this timber, that artillery could not have been brought to bear on them with success, and direct assault in the presence of the intervening river would have been out of the question.
As we marched through these works, we said among ourselves, "If the enemy could not hold such a place as this, where this side of Vicksburg will he make a stand? Our advance then will be a continued march of victory." Thus in exultation we pressed on.
Three miles south of the Tallahatchie we passed Abbeville, a small railroad station garrisoned by a few troops. We camped for the night on Hurricane Creek, a small stream six miles north of Oxford.
The country through which we passed south of the Tallahatchie was mountainous and picturesque. Sometimeswe would ascend high ranges of hills which would give us a wide view of the country; whence we could see other ranges lying blue and dim in the distance, and far to the right the deep and sleepy looking valley of the Tallahatchie. It afforded a delightful contrast to the monotonous woods, interrupted only by sparse plantations, which, on our previous marches in the South, had bounded to narrow distances the inquiring vision, and rose round us like a prison wall.
December 12th. We resumed the march early, and at nine o'clock passed through Oxford, a very pleasant looking little city, but bounded on all sides by the inevitable oak forest of these regions. It was chiefly noted as being the site of the University of Mississippi. This building, built of brick, in the western environs of the city, rose in stately relief against the dark woods and above the meaner edifices surrounding it, and was one of the few objects that commanded our united respect, even in a land of traitors.
A march of twelve miles further, accomplished with much fatigue and straggling, brought us in sight of the main army camped along Yockona Creek. Here General Lauman was waiting to assume command of the division. His return was greeted throughout our regiment with great joy. That night we enjoyed the luxury of a drizzling Southern rain, and the next morning we put up tents and laid out our camp in regular order. The 103d Illinois had been left behind at Waterford, and now the 33d Wisconsin was attached to the 1st Brigade to supply its place. This regiment had advanced with Sherman's column from Memphis, and then countermarchedto Waterford, and then again advanced to join the main army: in consequence of which, their supply of rations was either so much exhausted or wasted, that they were reduced to three-fourths of the regular allowance. In addition to this, the vigilance and energy of the provost marshal had rendered it impossible for inexperienced soldiers to draw many supplies from the country. In this situation their complaints, as might have been expected from young soldiers, were boisterous and perhaps unreasonable. Indeed, they seemed to us to act very foolishly. They abused without restraint their quartermaster and other officers, and accused them of stealing their rations. They would besiege their colonel's tent in great crowds, clamoring for rations. All day, with scarcely an interruption, the cry of "crackers!" rang from their camp; and long before reveille, of mornings, the woods would echo to the cry of "crackers! crackers!" And in the middle of the night, if they said aught, talking in their sleep, it would be to repeat that inevitable and all-meaning word, crackers. Now we pitied them; and as far as we were able, shared our rations with them. But we could not but be amused at the vehement manner in which they expressed their impatience; for it called to mind ludicrous recollections of the days when we were young soldiers ourselves.
The army rested in this position, and waited the opening of railroad communications from Holly Springs. In a week the cars were running from Yockona Station. The cavalry division had sustained its first defeat near Coffeeville—a severe repulse at the hands of the enemy'sinfantry and artillery. This seemed to indicate his intention to dispute the occupation of Grenada, where he was said to be strongly fortified. But this result might have been anticipated by the cavalry, when, already beyond the reach of support from the infantry, they had pushed on against a vigilant and skillful enemy. He had taken advantage of their temerity and punished it severely; but, to the army in general, the affair was not of a serious character.
But the enemy's cavalry under Van Dorn, late their commanding general in Mississippi, was preparing a blow for our campaign, and it fell suddenly where it was least expected. Most of the cavalry division was recalled from the front, and part of it under Colonel Dickey was sent east, to make a raid on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, while the other part under Colonel Lee proceeded north to protect the communications from the designs of Forrest, who was moving on our railroad lines in Tennessee. About noon of the 19th, the Ohio Brigade of Ross' division, camped two miles south of Oxford, moved on the cars toward the north, passed through Holly Springs that evening, and arrived at Bolivar some time in the night. The same day Colonel Dickey, on his return, crossed the trail of Van Dorn, who was then moving to the north on his raid, and apprised General Grant of his movements, but too late to enable him to take measures to check them.
On the 20th, intimations that Van Dorn had captured Holly Springs came to the troops, first in the shape of vague rumors, and then of more definite reports. Immediate dispositions were made to meet the new danger.McArthur's division was sent to the north to open up the communications. The same night, orders came to the 4th Division to be ready to march at an early hour. The noise of preparation was kept up far into the night. In the midst of this, across the valley to the north of our regiment, we heard a tumult which sounded like a thousand watch-dogs, joining all hideously in their midnight orgies. It was a row between the 14th and 15th Illinois regiments on one side, and the 16th Illinois on the other. I believe it was confined entirely to words.
At six o'clock in the morning the division moved, and, passing to the east, crossed the railroad at Yockona Station, and, after proceeding about four miles, camped on the ground just abandoned by McArthur's division. We laid out camps in the regular manner, got up tents, and in the evening our regiment had dress parade, at which was read an order from General McPherson that the troops of the right wing would be put on three-quarter rations. Towards night marching orders came to the artillery, and late in the night orders came to the infantry to be ready to march early in the morning.
Retreat of the army—Commendable spirit of the troops—Hurricane Creek—Our division left here to cover the retreat—March to the Tallahatchie—Ridiculous rumors—Christmas—We go into camp—Return of Dickey's raid—Our condition as to supplies—The New Year—Good News—March to Holly Springs—Announcement of the capture of Vicksburg—It is contradicted—We go into camp—March of Denver's division—Our situation—Burning of Holly Springs—March again to the north—Bivouac at Cold Water—Brooding and speculating over the result of the campaign—Arrival at Moscow.
Retreat of the army—Commendable spirit of the troops—Hurricane Creek—Our division left here to cover the retreat—March to the Tallahatchie—Ridiculous rumors—Christmas—We go into camp—Return of Dickey's raid—Our condition as to supplies—The New Year—Good News—March to Holly Springs—Announcement of the capture of Vicksburg—It is contradicted—We go into camp—March of Denver's division—Our situation—Burning of Holly Springs—March again to the north—Bivouac at Cold Water—Brooding and speculating over the result of the campaign—Arrival at Moscow.
Reveille beat at 3½ o'clock, and at sunrise we turned our faces to the north and our backs upon all our dreams of conquest and glory. We began to retreat. The rubbish of our camps was on fire, and the mill which had been impressed to grind corn for us, wrapt in flames, sent a column of dense smoke into the air. The 41st Illinois was detailed to tear up the railroad. We looked upon all this with blank astonishment. But it was no fiction; the campaign was abandoned; the whole army was in retreat! We were bewildered. But out of this disappointment we endeavored to kindle a glow of hope; and out of this failure, we endeavored to persuade ourselves that victory would yet come. All felt the event keenly, and it could not be expected that there would be no murmurings. But the army of the Tennesseewas too patriotic in spirit and too brave in heart to be demoralized at this. Each soldier endeavored to put on a cheerful air, and each sought for hope in the countenances and conversation of his comrades. I will not endeavor to recount the reasonings and conjectures with which we endeavored to justify and excuse the retreat; nor the manner in which others more despondent complained of it. Many, however, seemed to think that we could have taken Grenada and maintained ourselves there, subsisting on the country, until communication by railroad could have been opened with Memphis.
Passing through Oxford, we camped on Hurricane Creek where we had camped on the night of the 11th. The 41st came up before dark and reported that they had performed their job quite to their own satisfaction. We believed them. All night the cars plied rapidly between Oxford and Abbeville removing cotton and Government stores. A bright light shone over the city during the entire night, and we judged that the troops remaining there were setting fire to portions of it, but never received any direct confirmation of our conjectures.
In the morning, our trains were sent forward under a strong guard, and during the forenoon, Quimby's Division filed past us. Thus the 4th Division was left to cover and protect the retreat. Orders were had for the men to remain by their colors in readiness for anything that might occur. To prevent straggling Major Brown ordered roll-call in our regiment every two hours, the results to be reported in writing to him. Weremained here another night, and heard the frequent noise and whistle of the cars—sounds which seemed more in keeping with a time of peace than of war.
Next morning, the drums beat early, and we received orders to prepare for action or a march at a moment's notice. We had been exposed all night to the luxury of a drizzling rain, which still continued, and made the prospect of the day anything but agreeable. At eight o'clock we slung knapsacks and fell in, but were kept standing in ranks till afternoon before commencing the march.
Late in the afternoon we passed Abbeville, and there saw a small garrison protecting the depot inside of a redoubt of cotton bales. It looked decidedly aristocratic. Dirt breastworks would not do. It was too cheap. They must have it made out of something worth fifty cents a pound. Well, luxuries among soldiers are so rare, who could envy them that? We camped a short distance from the enemy's rifle pits north of the Tallahatchie.
Here coming up with our comrades of the train, we found they had balm for our wounded spirits in the shape of prodigious camp reports of victories at all points. Burnside had not only defeated the enemy on the Rappahannock and taken Richmond—Sherman had not only taken Vicksburg and Banks Port Hudson, but peace was actually declared! There were men in the 27th Iowa and 33d Wisconsin that would bet their bounties on it. Of course we did not believe these reports to their full extent, but, we thought there might be something in them, and the thought encouraged us greatly.
The following day was Christmas. We ate our ¾ rations and celebrated it soberly and seriously. Our example would have been an excellent one to those Christians, who, under more favorable circumstances, celebrate the birth of Christ by stimulating their animal propensities with rich meat and strong wine. We fasted somewhat; and if yearning is prayer, we prayed—prayed for deliverance from our gloomy situation, and to be put on a new road of victory.
We changed camp two miles to the northeast, and camped in line on the extreme left of the army, looking to the south. We sent out a forage train which came in abundantly loaded.
The cavalry brigade which had been sent to make a raid on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, returned, successful, having torn up several miles of track, burned a warehouse of rebel stores, and made large captures of horses. Indeed every soldier of the 4th Illinois Cavalry seemed to have brought with him at least two horses and one contraband. The news of this little success, however unimportant, did something toward mitigating our gloom.
Meanwhile our provisions, "like the lingering sands of an hour glass," were fast running out. To prolong, if possible, the expected period of final starvation, Gen. McPherson issued another order reducing us to half rations. Lumkin's mills, six miles to the north, were put to grinding corn for our division; but the supply of meal thus obtained fell far short of furnishing us with bread-stuff, but we found an excellent substitute in hulled corn and in black peas which abounded in thecorn-fields adjacent to our camp. We had also a corral which was supplied with beef (?) cattle, picked up in the surrounding country. Andsuch cattle! Some were so poor as to be almost transparent. The boys actually averred that the butchers had to prop up one or two old oxen to shoot them! Our forage trains penetrated the country in all directions to find subsistence for the animals; in one instance going twenty-two miles from camp, and being gone two days. Thus the sweets of the enemy's success at Holly Springs was embittered to the whole country for many miles around, our army being put under tribute to supply its wants. And it must be confessed that notwithstanding the vigilance of the provost marshal who was now getting to be a most unpopular individual, the people suffered more from unauthorized seizures by soldiers who accompanied forage trains, or who, impelled by hunger, scouted the vicinity of the camps in bands, than in any legitimate way.
In the midst of this, we had our full rations of parades, inspections and reviews, and we more than once wondered if the generals were on half rations like the men. I do not believe they were.
The new year came; but it brought no rejoicings, no feastings, no comforts, no news from home. There was nothing to alleviate the general despondency, if we except an order from General McPherson announcing General Sullivan's victory at Parker's Cross Roads over Forest who had been destroying our railroad communications north of Jackson; also, that he had received a telegram from General Grant at Holly Springs, announcinga sharp fight near Nashville, with Johnson badly cut up and falling back. The order closed with the words, "Bully for New Years, with the compliments of General McPherson."
So far the winter had been mild. We had had but little snow. We had had none of those cold winds which, at this season of the year, sweep over our northern prairies. The ground had not been frozen so deep but that a half day's sun sufficed to thaw it out. We had had spells of very warm weather, warm as September in the North, followed by the inevitable soaking rains of the South. And yet, if we except the traveled roads and level bottoms, the ground had not been muddy. The clay hills seemed impervious to water, which, flowing from them, cut immense ditches down which great quantities of soil are yearly washed away. But it was a question whether this waste of soil was much of a loss to the fields; for on the surface the soil seemed to be of the same consistence it was six feet below. They are compelled to plow around these hills and circle them with ditches to prevent this wasteful washing. If the climate were not favorable to the production of cotton, it was the universal verdict of my comrades that they would not give a dollar an acre for the uplands of northern Mississippi. But it is not surprising that we should be unfavorably impressed with a country that afforded us such meager hospitalities.
Our picket duty was quite heavy. The details were made by regiments. For instance, on a given day the 3d Iowa would be required to furnish 300 men, embracing a specified proportion of officers and non-commissionedofficers. Other regiments would furnish a similar number, and so the detail would go round the division.
On the 3d of January we received a meager mail from home, and the following day papers arrived announcing for the first time that General Burnside had been defeated at Fredericksburg. We also learned to our mortification that Vicksburg was not taken. But this news had a transient compensation in reports, coming from no one knows what source, that Burnside had again crossed the Rappahannock and gained a great victory, and that Sherman was only waiting the arrival of Banks, when Vicksburg would certainly fall. At any rate we were always in luck or about to be. But what was still more agreeable was the arrival of a day's full rations, and news that our railroad communications were open to Memphis by way of LaGrange.
On the 5th of January, our division broke up camp on the Tallahatchie, and again took up the northward march. When the column had formed on the main road, General Lauman rode along and the boys of our regiment cheered him lustily. The country through which we passed, particularly in the vicinity of Waterford and Lumkin's Mills was putrid with the offal of slaughtered animals and thedebrisof deserted camps. The animals in our beef corral were driven along with us. They were the most motley looking herd we ever beheld; oxen that could not make a shadow; cows of the most lilliputian dimensions; embryo calves (for indeed they seemed intended for calves); and sheep that would not make a meal for a rat terrier. These, we were toldwere a fair specimen of Mississippi cattle! The herd would have made a menagerie worth a northern man's fifty cents in the hardest times.
Before we reached Holly Springs, Gen. McPherson received a dispatch from General Grant stating that Sherman had captured Vicksburg with 20,000 prisoners. The report was circulated along the column and caused great rejoicing. Reaching Holly Springs we found conflicting reports among the troops; and though the latest dispatches did not warrant the belief that Vicksburg was taken, we clung to the pleasant delusion, and for a long time would not believe that Sherman had been defeated.
We found Denver's Division here. The 109th Illinois was also here, and, with the exception of Company K, was in confinement for mutiny. The case of these traitors has become a matter of history. As regiment after regiment of the division passed their guard house, the boys growled and hooted at them in the most decisive manner.
We camped on the beautiful level ground north of the city. Gen. Grant still had his head quarters at Holly Springs, and our regiment furnished his head quarter guard.
At two o'clock the following morning, reveille began to beat in the camps of Denver's Division, and we knew they were preparing to march. No sooner had they evacuated their camps than our boys rushed to them, bearing away tables, bunks, boards, everything that could assist in furnishing our tents, or making them more comfortable.
All the troops except the 4th Division were withdrawn to the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Our division was left to cover the evacuation of the country and protect the removal of property. The 1st and 2d brigades occupying Holly Springs; the 3d yet remaining at Lumkin's Mills. On the 7th, a guard was sent to the latter place to bring forward a wagon train. It returned without molestation. The next day, the 3d Brigade joined us, which was quite a relief, as hitherto our picket duty had been very heavy. The cars were busy night and day removing stores, cotton, and negro women and children. The same day, January 8th, the cavalry, which had been watching the front, moved to the rear, and all felt confident the infantry and artillery would go the next day. And now we were to witness a tragedy which reflects infamy upon its perpetrators, and a dishonor upon the 4th Division.
Under the belief that we would move in the morning, a number of soldiers of the different regiments met and concerted a scheme for firing the city. Shortly after dark, the flames broke out in its eastern limits, and did not spread, but soon rose in another quarter. We saw it from our camp with little amazement; for we could not but expect that there would be found some reckless enough to undertake to execute the threats of vengeance made by exasperated soldiers against the citizens, on account of their conduct towards our prisoners captured by Van Dorn in his raid. The provost guards in some instances did their duty, arresting the incendiaries; but generally they connived at their operations. The flames spread and broke out in new directions. Two additionalregiments were ordered on duty as provost guards. Generals McPherson and Lauman rode through the city with their escorts and endeavored to arrest the work of barbarism. But their efforts were unavailing. Men, seizing their guns and accoutrements, ran into the city from all the camps, and filled the streets with bogus guards, whose purpose was to counteract the operations of the real ones. By 9 o'clock the confusion was at its hight—hideous and indescribable. The fiendish yells of the assassins and their accomplices, the shrieks of women and children, the shouts of the swaying crowds, applauding or rebuking, the commands of officers, the rushing sounds of the devouring flames, and the crash of falling timbers, mingled all their noises together. Citizens assisted by soldiers vainly endeavored to arrest the flames. The rich and the poor; the friendly and the unfriendly were served alike. The most stately residences and the meanest hovels were alike consumed. Not even the negro quarters were spared. To whatever could make a blaze, the incendiaries applied the torch. In the midst of it all, but few collisions took place, and but one casualty was reported, the wounding of a member of the 41st Illinois by a provost guard.
From our camp, the spectacle was grand in the extreme. The flames illuminated the heavens far around, and sent up huge columns of red smoke, which, driven by the south wind, rolled over our heads in clouds reflecting the yellow light and shutting out the dark storm clouds above. We saw from our camp the splendid sight; but we did not hear the cries of the helpless around the flames and over the ashes of their once happy homes.
The conflagration raged unabated till midnight, when the long roll beat in all the camps. The men sprang from their sleep, gathered their arms and accoutrements and fell in line. Presently an orderly came along with an order for roll-call to be had in each company, and the absentees noted and reported to head quarters. It is due to the good name of our regiment, to say that but two men were found absent at this time. Indeed, it would be an unusual thing, when camped in the vicinity of a large city, for a sudden midnight roll-call to find all the men in their quarters.
Comrades, I have pictured this scene as we saw and heard it. If it was right for soldiers to behave thus, let no one be ashamed that those who did so belonged to the 4th Division. If it was wrong, as the guilty ones are unknown, the disgrace falls upon us in common. That many justified it who did not participate in it, can not be denied. It is equally true, that many denounced it.
Let us give both sides a fair hearing. Those who justified it said, that when the place was captured on the 20th by Van Dorn, the women insulted our comrades who had surrendered, firing pistols and throwing bricks at them. There was not a Union man in the city. It had been in the past, and if not destroyed, would be in the future, a rendezvous for the enemy. Every family would give him aid; every roof would give him comfort. We had tried the kid glove policy and it had failed. Our enemies were traitors to a Government, the noblest in the world, and which had never wronged them. They were neither legitimate norhonorable enemies. We must teach them that we looked upon their treason as a crime. Had we left our homes and all the comforts of life, and come here to guard rebel property? If the contrary policy were adopted, the rebels would soon yield. They would not endure to see their property destroyed and their families brought to distress. Desertion would soon disorganize their armies, and leave us no more fighting to do.
On the other hand, it was said the war should be conducted honorably and according to the rules of warfare among civilized nations. War had its reciprocal justice; and we should not do to our enemies what we would not expect them to do to us, under like circumstances. The enemy was a traitor; that was true; but he was also a formidable power; and if we were to carry on the war with violence and outrage, he could and would retaliate. Until we had shown ourselves able to destroy the rebel hosts in the field, we should not direct our warfare against the women and children. All the advantages we had gained over the enemy had been gained by bravery in battle; not by cruelty elsewhere. Violence was not vigor. Energy in prosecuting the war, did not imply cruelty toward those whom its fortunes had placed in our hands. Let us march against the enemy's armies; defeat, pursue and destroy them. Then would the world applaud our valor. And, if we protected the unarmed, the helpless and innocent, it would applaud our magnanimity. If the contrary policy were adopted,—if we burned down over their heads the homes of women and children; if we left them shelterless in mid-winter and without food;—if we thus turneda deaf ear to the common appeals of humanity, what sympathy could we expect from civilized nations? How, under such circumstances, could we expect neutrality from them, to say nothing of friendship? It would exasperate our enemies in arms to new vigor as well as to new cruelty; it would cause non-combatants to take up arms, and bring against us foreign powers. Thus would we be overwhelmed with our own wickedness and folly.
But, more than this, respect for our duties as soldiers,—respect for the oath we had taken, should restrain us from violating the positive and repeated orders of our commanding generals. If the Government chose to inaugurate the policy of burning and laying waste, and we were commanded to execute it, we would obey; the responsibility would not be ours. We had enlisted, not to be the Government, but to serve it; and until we were commanded to commit such acts, our moral instincts should teach us to refrain from committing them. That our generals had been compelled to issue orders admonishing us against such conduct, was itself a humiliation. Every soldier in our ranks should understand the dignity of his mission, and feel that the cause of civilization needs not the weapons of barbarism for its defense.
When the morning came the conflagration had not ceased; but, from hour, to hour the flames continued to break out in different places in the suburbs of the city. At 10 A. M., we received orders to prepare to march immediately. Our wagons were soon loaded and sent forward, and the troops were called into line. Buttrains of cars continued to arrive and depart, loaded to their utmost capacity with negro women and children. Still we were kept in line, doubtless with the object of preventing a further destruction of the city. It was not till eight o'clock at night that we began to move. The roads were slippery and deep with mud. There was no moon in the early part of the night, and our only light was the conflagration, still raging behind us, and the blaze of burning fences and buildings on either hand. It was nearly midnight, when we reached Cold Water, and halted for rest and sleep.
Early in the morning, we took up the march on the Moscow road. We passed a camp of cavalry north of the stream as we crossed it,—all that now remained of the invading army fronting the enemy in Mississippi. And here we could not help but contrast our present feelings with those with which we had entered upon the campaign. Then in Virginia, in Middle Tennessee, and with us in Mississippi,—everywhere victory seemed preparing. Now, looking around us, we saw how our dream of victory and peace had vanished. Defeated at Fredericksburg; repulsed at Vicksburg; a hard earned, fruitless victory at Murfreesborough,—checked everywhere except in Mississippi, and here we had retreated.
But when we began to look at the chief difficulties of the campaign,—that of keeping open two to three hundred miles of railroad communication in the face of a bold and enterprising enemy, it was not so much a surprise to us that it had proved a failure, as that it had been undertaken at all. Our only source of hopenow was, that Grant would undertake the capture of Vicksburg by the more practicable route of the Mississippi.
The road was well beaten by previous columns of troops, and a vigorous march brought us to Wolf River, where we passed the night. In the morning we crossed the river and went into camp around Moscow, relieving a part of Logan's division.