CHAPTER V.The Beginning of the Civil War—The Scandinavians taking part in it—Appeal inHemlandetto the Scandinavians of Minnesota—Company D. Organized—The Expressions of the Press—The Departure—The March over the Cumberland Mountains—The Fate of the Third Regiment.Going from the court house on the afternoon of April 12th, 1861, a friend overtook me with the news that the rebels of the South had fired on Fort Sumpter. The news spread rapidly, and caused surprise and intense indignation. In a few days the governor issued a proclamation that one thousand men should be ready to leave our young state for the seat of war; more than a sufficient number of companies were already organized to fill this regiment, and the only question was, who were to have the first chance? This first excitement was so sudden that the Scandinavians, who are more deliberate in such matters, scarcely knew what was going on before the first enlistment was made.A few months passed, and the battle of Bull Run was fought. It was no longer a mere momentary excitement; it was no longer expected that the Rebellion could be subdued in a single battle or within a few months, but it was generally understood that the war would be long and bitter. Then the Scandinavians of Minnesota began to stir. We had heard that a few Swedes in Illinois, especially Major—afterward General—Stohlbrand and a few others, had entered the army. A few Scandinavians had also enlisted inthe First and Second regiments; but there was no general rising among them in our state until I published an appeal in the Swedish newspaperHemlandetin Chicago. The following is an extract from that paper:“To The Scandinavians of Minnesota!“It is high time for us, as a people, to arise with sword in hand, and fight for our adopted country and for liberty.“This country is in danger. A gigantic power has arisen against it and at the same time against liberty and democracy, in order to crush them.“Our state has already furnished two thousand men, and will soon be called upon for as many more to engage in the war. Among the population of the state the Scandinavians number about one-twelfth, a part of its most hardy and enduring people, and ought to furnish at least three or four hundred men for this army. This land which we, as strangers, have made our home, has received us with friendship and hospitality. We enjoy equal privileges with the native born. The path to honor and fortune is alike open to us and them. The law protects and befriends us all alike. We have also sworn allegiance to the same.“Countrymen, ‘Arise to arms; our adopted country calls!’ Let us prove ourselves worthy of that land, and of those heroes from whom we descend.“I hereby offer myself as one of that number, and I am confident that many of you are ready and willing to do likewise. Let each settlement send forth its little squad. Many in this neighborhood are now ready to go. A third regiment will soon be called by the governor of this state. Let us, then, have ready a number of men of the right kind, and offer our services as a part of the same. Let us place ourselves on the side of liberty and truth, not only with words but with strong arms,—with our lives. Then shall our friends in the home of our childhood rejoice over us. Our children and children’s children shall hereafter pronounce our names with reverence. We shall ourselves be happy in the consciousness of having performed our duty, and should death on the field of battle be our lot, then shall our parents, wives, children and friends find some consolation in their sorrow in the conviction that they, also, by their noble sacrifices, have contributed to the defense and victory of right, justice, and liberty. And a grateful people shall not withhold from them its sympathy and friendship.”A few days later I left a dear wife, home, and two children, and started for Fort Snelling, but not alone; about seventy Swedes and thirty Norwegians from Red Wing, Vasa, Chisago Lake, Holden, Wanamingo, Stillwater, Albert Lea andother places, went there with me, or joined us in the course of a few days.MUSTERING VOLUNTEERS.Meanwhile the third regiment had been called, and one hundred of my companions were mustered in as Company D of that regiment, with myself as their captain, a Norwegian friend, L. K. Aaker, formerly a member of our legislature, as first lieutenant, and my old friend H. Eustrom as second lieutenant. Although Company D was the only military organization in our state consisting exclusively of Scandinavians, there were quite a number of those nationalities in every regiment and company organized afterwards.I may be excused for saying a few words concerning my old military company. It consisted of the very flower of our young men. It was regarded from the start as a model company, and maintained its rank as such during the whole term of four years’ service. Always orderly, sober, obedient and faithful to every duty, the men of Company D, though foreigners by birth, won and always kept the affectionate regardand fullest confidence of their native-born comrades. A large majority of them are resting in the last grand bivouac, many under the genial Southern sun, but no word of reproach or doubt of soldierly honor has ever been heard against any of those living or dead.About this time a whole regiment of Scandinavians, mostly Norwegians, was organized in Wisconsin,—the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry regiment,—which rose to great distinction during its long service. Its brave colonel, Hans Hegg, fell mortally wounded while commanding a brigade on the bloody field at Chickamauga. There were many partially or wholly Swedish companies from Illinois, one of which belonged to the Forty-third Illinois regiment, under the lamented Capt. Arosenius, and came under my command a few years later in Arkansas. There were also many prominent Swedish officers in other regiments, such as Gen. C. J. Stohlbrand, Cols. Vegesack, Malmborg, Steelhammar, Broddy, Elfving, and Brydolf, Capts. Stenbeck, Silversparre, Sparrstrom, Lempke, Chas. Johnson, Erik Johnson, Vanstrum, Lindberg, etc., and Lieuts. Osborne, Edgren, Liljengren, Johnson, Lindall, Olson, Gustafson, Lundberg, and many others whose names I do not now recall.In the Goodhue county records for October 15, 1861, is a paragraph which states that, as the county auditor, H. Mattson, has voluntarily gone to the war with a company of soldiers to defend our country, it is resolved that leave of absence shall be extended to him, and that the office of county auditor shall not be declared vacant so long as the deputy performs his duties properly.The St. PaulPressof the same date, has the following: “We congratulate Capt. Mattson and his countrymen for the splendid company of Swedes and Norwegians which he commands. Never was a better company mustered in for service.”In the beginning of November two steamers arrived at Fort Snelling and took the Third regiment on board. We were ordered to join Buell’s army in Kentucky. Company E, of our regiment, was also mainly from Goodhue county, and when the steamers arrived at Red Wing, they stopped half an hour to let Companies D and E partake of a bountiful supper, to which they had been invited by their city friends, and to say a last farewell to their families and acquaintances. My wife, with the little children, my sister, father, brother, and other relatives, were gathered in a large room in the hotel opposite the landing. The half hour was soon past, and the bugle sounded “fall in.” I pass over the parting scene, leaving it to the imagination of the reader, for I cannot find words to describe it myself. I will only relate one little episode. When the bugle sounded for departure I held my little two-year-old daughter in my arms; her arms were clasped around my neck, and, when I endeavored to set her down, she closed her little fingers so hard together that her uncle had to open them by force before he could take her away from me. When a little child was capable of such feelings, it may be surmised what those felt who were able to comprehend the significance of that moment.In a few days we were camped on a muddy field in Kentucky, quickly learning the duties of soldier-life, and familiarizing ourselves with the daily routine of an army in the field.My military career of four years’ duration passed without any event of particular interest or importance; it was like that of two million other soldiers—to do their duty faithfully, whatever that duty might be—that was all.After eight months’ service I was promoted to the rank of major in the regiment. At that time we were serving in middle Tennessee. Shortly afterward our regiment, with some three thousand men of the troops, made a forced march across the Cumberland mountains. In order to give thereader an idea of the hardships which the soldiers occasionally had to endure on a march, I shall give a short sketch of this. The detachment broke camp in Murfreesboro in the forenoon of a very hot day toward the close of May, and marched twenty miles before night, which was considered a good distance for the first day. Most of the men suffered from blistered feet, and they were all very tired. We prepared our supper, and had just gone to rest in a large open field and were beginning to fall asleep, when, at ten o’clock in the evening, the signal was given to fall in. In a few minutes the whole force was in line, and silently resumed the march forward. We marched the whole night, the whole of the next day, the following night, and till noon the day after, moving altogether a distance of over eighty miles, over a difficult and partly mountainous country, and stopping only one hour three times a day to cook our coffee and eat, while those who sank down by the roadside entirely exhausted were left until the rear-guard came and picked them up. When we finally arrived at our destination the enemy that we were pursuing had already decamped, and we had to return by the same route over which we had come, though more leisurely. Among the many victims of this march was a bright Norwegian lieutenant of my old company, Hans Johnson, who died shortly after our return to Murfreesboro.A few days afterward the regiment started on an expedition to the South. During this march I got sick with the fever, and would probably have died at Columbia, Tenn., if my friend Eustrom, who at that time was captain of Company D, had not succeeded in getting me into a rebel family, where I was treated with the greatest care, so that in a few days I was able to go by rail to Minnesota on a twenty days’ leave of absence. This took place in the beginning of the month of July, 1862.Having spent a fortnight in the bosom of my family I returned, with improved health, to resume my command. I arrived at Chicago on a Sunday morning, and, as I had to wait all day for my train, I went to the Swedish church on Superior street. Leaving the church, I heard a news-boy crying, “Extra number of theTribune; great battle at Murfreesboro; Third Minnesota regiment in hot fire!” I bought the paper and hurried to the hotel, where another extra edition was handed me. The Union troops had won a decisive victory at Murfreesboro, and totally routed the forces of Forrest, consisting of eight thousand cavalry. Later in the evening a third extra edition announced that “The Third regiment has been captured by the enemy, and is on the march to the prisons of the South.” Only a soldier can imagine my feelings when I received this news. I arrived in Tennessee two days later, only to meet the soldiers returning from the mountains where they had been released on written parole by the enemy. They were sore-footed, exhausted, hungry and wild with anger, and looked more like a lot of ragged beggars than the well-disciplined soldiers they had been a few days before. All the captured officers had been taken to the South, where they were kept in prison several months. Only two of them succeeded in making their escape. One of those was Capt. Eustrom, who, in company with Lieut. Taylor, made his escape from a hospital building, some negroes giving them clothes, and, through almost incredible hardships and dangers, they succeeded in reaching our lines, and I met them two days after my arrival at Nashville.The capitulation of our splendid regiment was one of the most deplorable events of its kind during the whole war. It was regarded one of the best regiments of volunteers of the Western army. It had defended itself with great valor, and,in fact, defeated the enemy, when for some unaccountable reason, Col. H. C. Lester decided to surrender, and he exerted such a great influence over our officers that seven company commanders went over to his side in the council of war, which he called, while the remaining officers and the soldiers were strongly opposed to the capitulation. When the men finally were ordered to stack arms they did so with tears in their eyes, complaining bitterly because they were not allowed to fight any longer. All the officers who had been in favor of capitulation were afterward dismissed from service in disgrace.Arriving at Nashville I was immediately ordered to assume command of my own scattered regiment, of the Ninth Michigan Infantry regiment, and of a battery of artillery, which had also capitulated on that fatal Sunday. Having supplied the men with clothing and other necessaries, I took them by steamboats to a camp for prisoners in St. Louis, and returned to Nashville to report the matter in person. On my return to Nashville I was appointed member of a general court martial, and shortly afterwards its president, which position I occupied from July till December, 1862. The sufferings which my friend Captain Eustrom had endured during his flight from the rebels shattered his health so that he was soon forced to retire from service.About this time the well-known Indian massacre in the western settlements of Minnesota took place. About eight hundred peaceable citizens, mostly women and children, and among those many Scandinavians—were cruelly butchered, and their houses and property burnt and destroyed. The soldiers of the Third regiment had given their parole not to take up arms against the enemy until they were properly exchanged, but, as this did not have anything to do with the Indian war, they were ordered from St. Louis to Minnesotaand put under the command of Major Welch, of the Fourth regiment, and soon distinguished themselves by their fine maneuvers and valor in the struggle with the Indians.CHAPTER VI.Events of 1863—The Siege of Vicksburg—Anecdotes about Gens. Logan, Stevenson and Grant—Little Rock Captured—Recruiting at Fort Snelling—The engagement at Fitzhugh’s Woods—Pine Bluff—Winter Quarters at Duvall’s Bluff—Death of Lincoln—Close of the War—The Third Regiment Disbanded.In the month of December the officers were exchanged and ordered back to Fort Snelling, to where the enlisted men had also returned from the Indian war. In January, 1863, we again left Minnesota for the South. The whole of this winter and the beginning of spring were devoted to expeditions against guerillas and Confederate recruiting camps in southern Tennessee. Most of this time I commanded the regiment, four companies of which were mounted. We had to procure horses as best we could, here and there through the country. We had many skirmishes with the enemy, and captured a number of prisoners.In the beginning of June we joined the forces that were besieging Vicksburg under the command of Gen. Grant, and remained there until that city had capitulated. The siege of Vicksburg is so well known from history that I shall make no attempt to describe it here. For five consecutive weeks the cannonading was so incessant that the soldiers became as accustomed to it as the passengers on a steamer to the noise of the propeller, and, when the capitulation finally put an end to all this noise, we found it very difficult to sleep for several nights on account of the unusual silence.The July number ofHemlandet, contained a letter from me, dated Vicksburg, June 24th, from which I make the following extract:“The army of Gen. Grant is divided into two Grand Divisions, one of which is arranged in a semi-circle toward Vicksburg, only a few hundred yards from the intrenchments of the rebels, the other in a semi-circle turned away from Vicksburg, and fronting the army of Gen. Johnston. We are all protected by strong intrenchments, and always keep over two thousand men as picket guards, and the same number are digging rifle pits and building intrenchments.“Gen. Logan’s Division is close up to the intrenchments of the rebels. The Swedish Maj. Stohlbrand is chief of artillery in Logan’s Division, and, has, as such, under his special charge one of the most important positions in the beleaguering army.“I visited Gen. Logan yesterday, and will relate a little episode concerning this brave commander: When Gen. Logan heard that I was a Swede, and wished to see Maj. Stohlbrand, who had just ridden out to look after his batteries, the general, being always full of fun, assumed a very solemn air, and said: ‘Too bad you did not come an hour sooner, for then you could have seen Stohlbrand. There’—and he went to the door of his tent and pointed across the camp ground—‘there is the tent of Maj. Stohlbrand. Half an hour ago a bomb exploded from the main fort yonder. Poor Stohlbrand! Only a few remnants were left of the contents of his tent. Poor Stohlbrand! Perhaps you would like to see the remains?’“Accompanied by Gens. Stevenson, Ransom, and several other officers, I followed Gen. Logan to the tent of Stohlbrand. Then Logan said: ‘Out of respect for poor Stohlbrand we have put everything in order again. Here you see his camp stool, there his uniform, and there is his little field cot.’ The bed looked as if a dead body was lying on it, covered by a blanket. Logan walked solemnly up to the head of the bed, lifted the blanket, and behold, there was only a bundle of rags! The rest of us, of course, supposed that Stohlbrand was dead, and that his corpse was lying on the bed. This little joke made the humorous Logan laugh so that his whole body shook.“As to the Swedes in the army, I may mention that, besides our Company D, there are in the same division the company of Capt. Arosenius of the Forty-third Illinois regiment, and that of Capt. Corneliuson of the Twenty-third Wisconsin regiment, and a number of Swedes of the other regiments from Illinois and Wisconsin, and of the Fourth and Fifth Minnesota regiments. Old Company D is a model, as usual,—the best one I have seen yet. Both officers and men are quiet, orderly, cheerful and obedient, always faithful at their post, and ready to go wherever duty calls them. They are loved and respected by all who come in contact with them. WhenI feel sad or despondent, all I need do is to walk along the camp street and take a look at some of my old Scandinavians. Their calm and earnest demeanor always makes me glad and proud. I ask for no greater honor than to point them out to some stranger, saying: ‘This is my old company.’“Not these alone, however, but all of my countrymen whom I met in the army have a good name, and are considered most reliable and able soldiers.”I shall now relate a couple of anecdotes from the siege of Vicksburg, which I did not mention in the letter toHemlandet.GRANT’S HEADQUARTERS.Outside Gen. Logan’s tent stood a big magnolia tree. While laughing at Logan’s joke Gen. Stevenson picked up a little stick of wood and whittled on it with his penknife, in genuine Yankee fashion. Accidently he dropped his knife, and, while stooping down to pick it up, a fragment of a shell from the rebel batteries came and went two inches deep into the tree right where his head had been when he was whittling. He coolly remarked, “That piece of iron was not made for me.”One day as I, in company with Lieut. Col. (afterwardGen.) C. C. Andrews, was visiting Gen. Grant outside of Vicksburg, a wagon drawn by six mules passed close by his headquarters. The driver, an old, rough-looking soldier, stopped, and asked the way to a certain regiment. Gen. Grant’s tent stood on a little elevation, at the foot of which were several fresh wagon tracks. A number of officers, including myself, were standing and sitting around the general outside the tent. Gen. Grant, who was dressed in a fatigue suit and slouched hat, without other marks of distinction than three small silver stars, which could scarcely be distinguished on his dusty blouse, went toward the driver and, with the most minute particulars, gave him directions how to drive. While he was talking, we observed that the driver showed signs of deep emotion, and finally he alighted from the mule, which he was riding, stretched out his arms, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed: “My God! I believe it is Gen. Grant! General, do you remember Tommy Donald? I was a soldier in your company during the Mexican war!” With touching kindness the great commander-in-chief now took both hands of the ragged soldier in his, and, like old friends who had not met for a long time, they rejoiced in remembering the companionship of fifteen years before.ARMY WAGON.When Gen. Grant returned to the tent the conversation turned to the newspaper clamor and general discontentbecause Vicksburg was not yet taken, upon which the general expressed himself in the following words: “I could make another assault and hasten the capture a few days, but will not do it because Iknowpositively that within ten days the garrison must surrender anyhow, for I have got them, and will take them all. Let them howl. I don’t care. I have got Pemberton tight as wax.” Saying which, he closed his right hand and laid it on the little camp table with such force that I noticed the veins filling and turning blue on the back of his hand. These two little incidents give a key to Gen. Grant’s whole character, and the secret of his unparalleled success, not only in winning battles, but in bagging the entire opposing force.A week later Vicksburg fell into our hands. We took thirty-two thousand prisoners, fifteen generals, two thousand other officers, and nearly two hundred cannon.GENERALS GRANT AND PEMBERTON.About a week after the surrender of Vicksburg the Thirdregiment was transferred to the Seventh army corps, under the command of Gen. Fred. Steele, and took part in the campaign against Little Rock. In the beginning of September, when we were only ten miles from Little Rock, our regiment enjoyed the distinction of marching at the head of the infantry column. We came upon the Confederate batteries on the west bank of the Arkansas river, where a brisk cannonade was opened. This combat afforded the most beautiful sight imaginable, if carnage and slaughter may be called beautiful. We stood on the east side of the river, the Confederates on the west. The water being very low, a steamer had been grounded about an eighth of a mile above us, and near the steamer the water was so shallow that the cavalry could ford the river; but just in front of the Third regiment the water was so deep that we had to throw a pontoon bridge for the infantry.Our regiment was stationed in a cornfield near the river bank to cover the march across the bridge, and the soldiers were ordered to lie down on the ground. But we found it very difficult to make them obey, for, in their eagerness to cross the river, they felt more like rushing ahead and shouting for joy. Many shots from the Confederate batteries passed over our heads, so low that the soldiers, in a sporting mood, jumped up and grabbed with their hands in the air, as if trying to catch them. In less than an hour the bridge across the deep channel was ready. A cavalry brigade had meanwhile moved up to the ford above, and now the signal for crossing was given. The Confederates set fire to the steamer, which they were unable to save.It was about noon on one of those glorious autumn days peculiar to this country, which greatly enhanced the impression of the sublime spectacle then to be seen on the Arkansas river. The burning steamer reddening the atmosphere with brilliant flames of fire, a long line of cavalry fording theshallow river in three files, the infantry marching by the flank over the pontoon from which they jumped into the water, forming on double-quick, first companies, then battalion, whereupon they marched cheerily, in knee-deep water, under flying banners and to the beat of regimental music, while the air was filled with shells and balls. Before the infantry had reached the woods where the batteries of the enemy were hidden, the latter was already in retreat, and Little Rock soon fell into our hands.On our march into the captured city the next morning, the Third regiment was again accorded the place of honor at the head of the army. It was designated to act as provost-guard for the purpose of maintaining order, and the whole regiment was soon quartered in the state capitol. Gen. C. C. Andrews, who held the position of colonel at that time, was appointed post commander at Little Rock, and I, who had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel soon after the surrender of Vicksburg, took command of the regiment, whereby it became my duty to maintain law and order in the captured city. This was an onerous and difficult task, for it must be remembered that the only executive authority in the southern states during the war was vested in the army, and especially delegated to the provost officers and guards. The third regiment was occupied with this task until the following spring, and performed its duty so well that the governor of Arkansas, in a message, expressed himself regarding it, in the following language:“During the time of their service in our capital good order has prevailed, and they have commanded the respect of our citizens. When called upon to meet the enemy they have proven themselves equal to any task, and reliable in the hour of imminent danger. Such men are an honor to our government and the cause which they serve. Their state may justlyfeel proud of them, and they will prove themselves to be worthy sons of the same wherever duty calls them.”Toward Christmas I was ordered to Fort Snelling, with a detachment of officers and non-commissioned officers, for the purpose of recruiting our decimated ranks. I remained on this duty till the month of March, and then returned with four hundred recruits. Shortly afterwards the battle of Fitzhugh’s Woods, near Augusta, Arkansas, was fought, and the regiment distinguished itself by very gallant conduct. During the stay in Little Rock most of the soldiers had re-enlisted for three years, or until the close of the war, whereby we acquired the title of “Veteran Regiment.” But that was not the only distinction which was conferred on our men. A large number of young soldiers had been promoted from the ranks to be officers in several negro regiments, which were organized in Tennessee and Arkansas, and some as officers of new regiments of our own state. Col. Andrews had meanwhile been promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and, in April, 1864, I was promoted to colonel of the regiment in his place, and was shortly afterward ordered to march with its eight hundred men to Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas river.From this time until the beginning of August the regiment experienced such hardships and sufferings from diseases and hard service, that it sustained far greater losses from these causes than any other regiment from our state had met with in open battle. Pine Bluff was a veritable pest-hole; the water was of a greenish color, the air full of germs of disease and poisonous vapors. Continually surrounded and threatened by a vigilant enemy, the exhausted and sickly soldiers had to get up at three o’clock every morning for the purpose of working at the entrenchments and strengthening and protecting our position in different ways. Meanwhile the number of those fit for duty was daily decreasing at anappalling rate. The hospitals were overcrowded with patients, and the few men left for duty were continually occupied in caring for the sick and burying the dead, until there were not men enough left to bury their dead comrades, and I was obliged to ask a regiment, which had recently arrived, to help us perform that sad duty.At this critical moment I received orders from Washington to take six companies to Minnesota, on a six weeks’ veteran furlough, to which the regiment was entitled. Those went who were able to. Many died on the way, but those of us who survived until we reached Minnesota were soon restored to usual health and strength, so that we could return in due time and again take part in the campaign in Arkansas. The remaining four companies, which had been furloughed the previous winter, were ordered from Pine Bluff to Duvall’s Bluff, on White river, where the whole regiment was reunited under my command in the beginning of October, and remained in winter quarters until the spring of 1865.Shortly after our return to Arkansas I assumed command of the First Brigade, First Division, Seventh army corps. This brigade consisted of my own regiment, the Twelfth Michigan, the Sixty-first Illinois, and a United States colored regiment. Our prospects for remaining in winter quarters for several months being favorable, many of the higher officers sent for their wives. I did the same, having first erected a comfortable log house for us. My wife and two little children arrived a few days before Christmas, and stayed in the camp the whole winter. No important event took place during the winter, excepting that we were once ordered to make an expedition up White river, with a considerable force of cavalry and infantry, and, after a fatiguing march, succeeded in breaking up a camp of irregular Confederate troops, and taking many prisoners.I will relate two incidents which took place near Duvall’s Bluff, one of a serious, the other of a comic nature.The first was the shooting of a young soldier of the Twenty-second Ohio regiment, who time and again had deserted his post, and finally joined a band of rebel marauders. It became my sad duty to execute the sentence of death. My brigade formed a hollow square, facing inward, and the doomed man, a strong, handsome youth of twenty years, sat on a coffin in an open ambulance, which was driven slowly along the inside of the square, while a band marched in front of the wagon playing a funeral march. After the completion of this sad march the deserter was placed in the middle of the square, in front of the coffin, with his eyes blind-folded. A detachment of twelve men under a sergeant now fired simultaneously, upon the signal of the provost marshal. Eight rifles were loaded with balls, and the unfortunate young man fell backwards into his coffin and died without a struggle.SHOOTING A DESERTER.One day while taking a ride on horseback in company withmy wife, who had a fine saddle horse, and had become an expert rider during her long stay in the camp, we galloped mile after mile along the fine plain, outside of the picket-lines where men of my own brigade were on guard, till at last we found ourselves several miles from the place where we had passed through our lines. Returning toward camp, we struck the picket line at a point where a recently arrived regiment was stationed, and where the ground was soft and marshy. Being challenged by the guard I answered who I was, but as he could not plainly distinguish my uniform in the twilight and did not know me personally, he ordered us, with leveled gun, to stand still until he could call the officer of the guard. It was no easy matter to obey his orders, for the horses continually sank down in the soft ground, but finally the officer arrived, and we succeeded in getting to the camp without further trouble. I was not the first officer who thus got into trouble by neglecting to write out a pass for himself.On a fine April day, which can never be forgotten, the news came that our president, Abraham Lincoln, had been murdered. Stricken with consternation I hurried down to the Third regiment in person to tell the sad news. Never, either before or since, have I witnessed such a scene as the one that followed. Some of the men went completely wild with sorrow, weather-beaten veterans, embracing each other, wept aloud, others swore and cursed. In the prison yard, which was guarded by men belonging to my regiment, a rebel prisoner took off his cap, waived it in the air and cried, “Hurrah for Booth!” A man by the name of Stark immediately loaded his gun and shot the rebel dead on the spot. Many others, both inside and outside the camp, were shot because they expressed joy at the death of Lincoln. Passions were strong, and all tolerance and patience exhausted among the Union soldiers on that occasion. The main army of theConfederates had already surrendered when this calamity occurred, and the war was in fact over. A few days afterward we sent our families home.CHAPTER VII.Reconstruction in the South—Third Regiment Mustered Out—The Farewell Order—Sacrifices and Costs of the War.A very important work still remained to be accomplished by the union army, namely, the restoration of law and order in the southern states. I had the honor to be entrusted with a portion of that work, an account of which was given in a paper prepared and read by me before the commandery of the military order Loyal Legion, at one of its meetings in St. Paul, in March, 1889, from which I quote as follows:“After listening to the many interesting addresses on battles and campaigns that have been read before the commandery at our monthly meetings, I fear that you will be disappointed, not only with the subject of this paper, but also with the commonplace incidents which I have to relate, and yet I think that the part taken by the Union army in the so-called reconstruction of civil government in the rebellious states immediately after the war deserves a place in the history of that army and of the war. All the world knows how bravely our soldiers fought, how willingly they endured hardships of the camp and of the wearisome march, how patiently they bore sickness, wounds, and sufferings of every kind, and how faithfully they obeyed the orders of advance to danger and to death. But there is still another trait of their character, perhaps the greatest of them all, that of the good citizen, who was able, as soon as the last smoke of battle had cleared away, to restrain all feelings of enmityand revenge, to take the enemy by the hand, to guide, help, and protect him and his in all the rights of citizenship, and it is of that I would relate some facts that came under my own observation and experience.“Having been stationed at Duvall’s Bluff, Arkansas, in command of a brigade, of which my own regiment, the Third Minnesota infantry, formed a part, I received orders from Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds, commanding the Department of Arkansas, on the 15th of May, 1865, to establish a military post at Batesville, Arkansas, on the upper White river, and to take command of a district comprising the north-eastern portion of that state. The field organization of the Seventh army corps, to which we belonged, was being broken up. Some of the regiments were sent home to be mustered out of service; others were sent to different points for purposes of occupation. My own regiment and two squadrons of the Ninth Kansas Cavalry were detailed for the work given in my charge.“On the 18th of May we embarked on steam transports, and reached Batesville on the 20th. A few days later my post headquarters was established at Jacksonport, and the troops were distributed at different points with one or two companies for each, at Batesville, Searcy, Augusta, Powhatan; and the main force at Jacksonport, from which point frequent cavalry patrols were sent to the outlying stations.“The topography of that country is very irregular and unique. The eastern portion, bordering upon the Mississippi, is flat and marshy, with many lakes and bayous, and has a rich, alluvial soil. The other portion is very broken, with hills and mountain ridges, rocks, caves and beautiful streams, but poor soil. The lowlands had been occupied by wealthy slave owners, whose sympathies were strong for the Southern cause. The highlands were occupied by the poorer class, only a few of whom had owned slaves. Many of this classwere strong Union men, and soldiers in the Union army. During the great struggle of four years many bloody tragedies had been enacted between the loyal and the rebel residents, and bitter feelings of revenge still rankled in the breasts of the survivors. During the whole period of the war the country had been swept clean, at rapid intervals, by both armies alternately, and each time new atrocities had been perpetrated, and all the worst passions of the people rekindled. It had also been a place of refuge for the worst rebel elements in southern Missouri, when too hardly pressed by our friend Gen. Sanborn[2]and other Union commanders. At the time of our arrival the surviving soldiers from both armies were returning to their homes, also many refugees,—rebels from Texas and Union men from the North,—most of them to find their families destitute and their property destroyed.“The irregular Confederate troops under Gen. Jeff. Thompson, numbering some eight thousand men, had not yet surrendered, but were scattered over the district in a thoroughly demoralized condition, so that the whole situation was rather peculiar and very bad, and it was a difficult task to prevent fresh outbreaks, and to restore order and get the people started anew in the peaceful avocations of life.“My instructions were to preserve law and order, to organize and arm companies of home colonists for self-protection, to encourage agriculture and commerce, and to assist the citizens in restoring civil government. The men under my command during the early reconstruction period had certainly no reason to love Arkansas, because they had not only buried their best friends and comrades within its borders, but had themselves for months and months experienced there that dreadful suffering most feared by all soldiers, and for which few receive any credit,—namely, the inglorious privationof the silent watch,—in the swamp, in the trenches, in the hospital, on the camp-stretcher, and in the ambulance,—when tired, sore, sick, thirsty, lonely, and seemingly forsaken by God and man, unknown and with praise unsung, with no cheering sound of drum or bugle, no battle flag or cheer in sight or hearing, no voice of comrades or of guns, and no magic touch of elbows or shouts of victory. These men had experienced all that, and had no special reason to sympathize with the inhabitants who had done their full share to bring them into so much misery. And now observe how they treated those inhabitants. Immediately on arriving at Batesville the following order was promulgated, and, by the aid of an old printing press and swift couriers, scattered all over the district:‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.‘General Order No. 1.‘I. It is hereby announced to the people of Batesville and surrounding country that the chief object of the federal occupation of this place is their protection against armed forces, of whatever kind, to give encouragement to agriculture and other peaceful pursuits, and to restore commercial intercourse.‘II. The public safety and mutual interests demand that all persons living within our lines and enjoying the protection of the nation’s forces shall declare their obedience to the government.‘III. It is ordered, therefore, that all persons now living or hereafter coming within our picket-lines who have not taken but desire to take the oath of allegiance, with the purpose of restoring and establishing the national authority, shall register their names without delay in the provost marshal’s office, where the oath will be administered.‘By order of‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’“On the same day a beginning was made to organize companies of home colonists among the great number of Union refugees who had followed the troops to Batesville. Arms and ammunition were placed in their hands, and the following instruction given:‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.‘To the members of Companies of Home Colonists:‘You will, as soon as practicable, depart with your families to your several homes, and there proceed to cultivate the land and secure a crop for the coming year.‘The arms and ammunition with which you have now been furnished by the government of the United States are for the protection of yourselves and families, and for no other purpose.‘The laws of your state guarantee you full redress for private injuries; you will therefore leave all disputes and wrongs to be settled by them and by the military authority of the United States, and it is only against the armed force of marauders that you will resort to the use of these arms; remember, always, that you are not soldiers, but citizens.‘You will promptly report to your own officers and to the military commander of this post any information you may obtain of armed forces of marauders; and in case of emergency you are authorized to act as a military body in pursuing them. The commanding officer will always extend to you aid, both in men and subsistence, so far as lies in his power, but you must, like free and independent citizens, place yourselves, by industrious labor, as soon as possible, beyond the necessity of federal support.‘Let your conduct among your late enemies be such as will elicit their friendship.‘By assisting me to carry out the magnanimous policy of our government you will soon have peace and security restored to your community, and happiness and plenty to yourselves and your families.‘By order of‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’“In a remarkably short time the news of the policy thus announced spread to the most remote parts of the district, and had a very beneficial effect. It inspired hope and confidence everywhere. The disloyal people came out of their hiding places, and, with apparent sincerity and gratitude, took the oath of allegiance, and went to work as good citizens to perform their part in the work of reconstruction. Union men and rebels shook hands over the bloody chasm, and agreed to bury the past and work together for a better future.“Soon another class of people came in large numbers to seek help and protection from the Union forces. It was the poverty-stricken old men, and the women and children who had lost their natural protectors. It was a sight sad enough to move the stoutest hearts to look at their helplessness and misery, and I never had a more pleasant duty to perform than that of relieving their wants at the expense of our generous government. The department commander had placed a steamboat at my disposal, and given me unlimited power to draw on the commissary stores at Duvall’s Bluff. That steamer made regular trips with supplies for all who were actually in need, and most of the applicants returned to their homes with plenty of flour, bacon, salt, seed, corn and other necessaries, with a government mule sometimes thrown in to carry the load home, and there was no distinction made between rebels and Unionists, except that the former were placed on their good behavior as to their future conduct. It was in this work that our soldiers,—officers and men,—showed without exception, that trait of character which entitles them to the name of exemplary citizens as well as exemplary soldiers, which they had previously earned in a service of four years. They never forgot that the conquered inhabitants were our own people, and members of the same great republic.“After a while our picket lines were withdrawn, and only enough guards posted to take care of the public property. Citizens and soldiers mingled freely in social intercourse, not as conquerors and conquered, but as friends and equals, our men interesting themselves in everything that tended to the welfare of the citizens, often helping them in their work and business, and always treating the helpless with gallantry and tenderness. On the Fourth of July citizens and soldiers, ex-rebels and Union men, to the number of many hundreds, met under the stars and stripes, in a lovely grove, to celebratethe day around an old-fashioned barbecue, and, for nearly two days and a night, enjoyed a feast of brotherly love and good will, all proud of the old banner, and happy to be again united as one people.“During the summer elections were held for town and county officers, and as soon as such officers had qualified, the soldiers, even more readily than the citizens themselves, did all in their power to uphold their authority. In many instances good penmen and accountants among the soldiers gave their services gratuitously to help the newly-elected civil officers start their books and accounts. To the honor of the rebels, especially the returned soldiers, I must say that they behaved in a most exemplary manner, and accepted the situation with good grace and acted most cordially and loyally toward us. The Freedmen’s Bureau was not established in that district during my time of command, but I was informed by a friend, Maj. J. M. Bowler, who had command the following winter, that the planters generally yielded to the requirements of that department as soon as it was established; that they made fair contracts with the liberated slaves and strictly and carefully observed them, and were in all respects considerate toward the freedmen generally. Of course, I do not mean to say that all the citizens behaved so well. There were exceptions, even in the first days of reconstruction, and those exceptions were nearly all by the men who had never faced the Union soldiers in open battle, but had either skulked or resorted to guerilla warfare. But I do mean to say that in those early days, before President Johnson had began to show his final hand, the rebels were disposed to accept the situation in a manly and loyal way, and that, if the policy inaugurated by the Union army had been adhered to, the country would probably have been saved from the Ku-Klux and other horrors of a later period.“One strange fact was deeply impressed upon my mind during the time of my command in Northeastern Arkansas, namely, the genuine regret and sorrow among the returning rebel soldiers over President Lincoln’s death. They not only respected him, but actually regarded him as a friend, because they believed him to be kind and just; so that, whatever measures he might have adopted, had he lived, they believed that they could have submitted to them with full confidence that it would be for the best. I can not better illustrate that feeling, as it was daily manifested to me, than by comparing it to the faith and confidence of erring children to an offended but loving father.“The most noted and influential rebel in the district at that time was, undoubtedly, Gen. Jeff. Thompson. On the 3d of June this noted general arrived at my headquarters at Jacksonport, pursuant to previous arrangements, to surrender his command, consisting of eight thousand officers and men, who began to crowd in on that and the following day in great numbers. They were the hardest looking soldiers I have ever seen. Jeff. Thompson himself was a man of commanding appearance, and a perfect gentleman. In my journal of that day I have described him as follows: ‘He is a tall, sinewy, weather-beaten man, a queer looking genius, dressed in a suit of snowy white, from the plume in his hat to the heel of his boot, and with a white sword-belt and white gloves. He is a clever chap, full of fun, telling great yarns, and an incessant talker.’ I should judge he was about forty-five years old. On the third day after his arrival the troops had all assembled, and the surrender took place in due form. A staff officer from the Department of Missouri and another from the Department of Arkansas witnessed the proceedings and received the documents. When all was finished, Jeff. Thompson had his men assemble on the levee in front of a steamboat, from the cabin-deck of which hedelivered his farewell address. I stood by his side while he spoke, and expected every moment to see him pierced by some well-directed bullet from the crowd on shore, but he was allowed to finish his address without interruption, after which the men slunk out of sight, and before evening the whole motley crowd had left the town with the determination, as I verily believe, to follow the good advice of their general. The address deserves a place among our papers, and I will read it, as it appeared a few weeks later in Harper’s Magazine, from averbatimreport made by one of my officers. He said:
The Beginning of the Civil War—The Scandinavians taking part in it—Appeal inHemlandetto the Scandinavians of Minnesota—Company D. Organized—The Expressions of the Press—The Departure—The March over the Cumberland Mountains—The Fate of the Third Regiment.
The Beginning of the Civil War—The Scandinavians taking part in it—Appeal inHemlandetto the Scandinavians of Minnesota—Company D. Organized—The Expressions of the Press—The Departure—The March over the Cumberland Mountains—The Fate of the Third Regiment.
Going from the court house on the afternoon of April 12th, 1861, a friend overtook me with the news that the rebels of the South had fired on Fort Sumpter. The news spread rapidly, and caused surprise and intense indignation. In a few days the governor issued a proclamation that one thousand men should be ready to leave our young state for the seat of war; more than a sufficient number of companies were already organized to fill this regiment, and the only question was, who were to have the first chance? This first excitement was so sudden that the Scandinavians, who are more deliberate in such matters, scarcely knew what was going on before the first enlistment was made.
A few months passed, and the battle of Bull Run was fought. It was no longer a mere momentary excitement; it was no longer expected that the Rebellion could be subdued in a single battle or within a few months, but it was generally understood that the war would be long and bitter. Then the Scandinavians of Minnesota began to stir. We had heard that a few Swedes in Illinois, especially Major—afterward General—Stohlbrand and a few others, had entered the army. A few Scandinavians had also enlisted inthe First and Second regiments; but there was no general rising among them in our state until I published an appeal in the Swedish newspaperHemlandetin Chicago. The following is an extract from that paper:
“To The Scandinavians of Minnesota!“It is high time for us, as a people, to arise with sword in hand, and fight for our adopted country and for liberty.“This country is in danger. A gigantic power has arisen against it and at the same time against liberty and democracy, in order to crush them.“Our state has already furnished two thousand men, and will soon be called upon for as many more to engage in the war. Among the population of the state the Scandinavians number about one-twelfth, a part of its most hardy and enduring people, and ought to furnish at least three or four hundred men for this army. This land which we, as strangers, have made our home, has received us with friendship and hospitality. We enjoy equal privileges with the native born. The path to honor and fortune is alike open to us and them. The law protects and befriends us all alike. We have also sworn allegiance to the same.“Countrymen, ‘Arise to arms; our adopted country calls!’ Let us prove ourselves worthy of that land, and of those heroes from whom we descend.“I hereby offer myself as one of that number, and I am confident that many of you are ready and willing to do likewise. Let each settlement send forth its little squad. Many in this neighborhood are now ready to go. A third regiment will soon be called by the governor of this state. Let us, then, have ready a number of men of the right kind, and offer our services as a part of the same. Let us place ourselves on the side of liberty and truth, not only with words but with strong arms,—with our lives. Then shall our friends in the home of our childhood rejoice over us. Our children and children’s children shall hereafter pronounce our names with reverence. We shall ourselves be happy in the consciousness of having performed our duty, and should death on the field of battle be our lot, then shall our parents, wives, children and friends find some consolation in their sorrow in the conviction that they, also, by their noble sacrifices, have contributed to the defense and victory of right, justice, and liberty. And a grateful people shall not withhold from them its sympathy and friendship.”
“To The Scandinavians of Minnesota!
“It is high time for us, as a people, to arise with sword in hand, and fight for our adopted country and for liberty.
“This country is in danger. A gigantic power has arisen against it and at the same time against liberty and democracy, in order to crush them.
“Our state has already furnished two thousand men, and will soon be called upon for as many more to engage in the war. Among the population of the state the Scandinavians number about one-twelfth, a part of its most hardy and enduring people, and ought to furnish at least three or four hundred men for this army. This land which we, as strangers, have made our home, has received us with friendship and hospitality. We enjoy equal privileges with the native born. The path to honor and fortune is alike open to us and them. The law protects and befriends us all alike. We have also sworn allegiance to the same.
“Countrymen, ‘Arise to arms; our adopted country calls!’ Let us prove ourselves worthy of that land, and of those heroes from whom we descend.
“I hereby offer myself as one of that number, and I am confident that many of you are ready and willing to do likewise. Let each settlement send forth its little squad. Many in this neighborhood are now ready to go. A third regiment will soon be called by the governor of this state. Let us, then, have ready a number of men of the right kind, and offer our services as a part of the same. Let us place ourselves on the side of liberty and truth, not only with words but with strong arms,—with our lives. Then shall our friends in the home of our childhood rejoice over us. Our children and children’s children shall hereafter pronounce our names with reverence. We shall ourselves be happy in the consciousness of having performed our duty, and should death on the field of battle be our lot, then shall our parents, wives, children and friends find some consolation in their sorrow in the conviction that they, also, by their noble sacrifices, have contributed to the defense and victory of right, justice, and liberty. And a grateful people shall not withhold from them its sympathy and friendship.”
A few days later I left a dear wife, home, and two children, and started for Fort Snelling, but not alone; about seventy Swedes and thirty Norwegians from Red Wing, Vasa, Chisago Lake, Holden, Wanamingo, Stillwater, Albert Lea andother places, went there with me, or joined us in the course of a few days.
MUSTERING VOLUNTEERS.
Meanwhile the third regiment had been called, and one hundred of my companions were mustered in as Company D of that regiment, with myself as their captain, a Norwegian friend, L. K. Aaker, formerly a member of our legislature, as first lieutenant, and my old friend H. Eustrom as second lieutenant. Although Company D was the only military organization in our state consisting exclusively of Scandinavians, there were quite a number of those nationalities in every regiment and company organized afterwards.
I may be excused for saying a few words concerning my old military company. It consisted of the very flower of our young men. It was regarded from the start as a model company, and maintained its rank as such during the whole term of four years’ service. Always orderly, sober, obedient and faithful to every duty, the men of Company D, though foreigners by birth, won and always kept the affectionate regardand fullest confidence of their native-born comrades. A large majority of them are resting in the last grand bivouac, many under the genial Southern sun, but no word of reproach or doubt of soldierly honor has ever been heard against any of those living or dead.
About this time a whole regiment of Scandinavians, mostly Norwegians, was organized in Wisconsin,—the Fifteenth Wisconsin Infantry regiment,—which rose to great distinction during its long service. Its brave colonel, Hans Hegg, fell mortally wounded while commanding a brigade on the bloody field at Chickamauga. There were many partially or wholly Swedish companies from Illinois, one of which belonged to the Forty-third Illinois regiment, under the lamented Capt. Arosenius, and came under my command a few years later in Arkansas. There were also many prominent Swedish officers in other regiments, such as Gen. C. J. Stohlbrand, Cols. Vegesack, Malmborg, Steelhammar, Broddy, Elfving, and Brydolf, Capts. Stenbeck, Silversparre, Sparrstrom, Lempke, Chas. Johnson, Erik Johnson, Vanstrum, Lindberg, etc., and Lieuts. Osborne, Edgren, Liljengren, Johnson, Lindall, Olson, Gustafson, Lundberg, and many others whose names I do not now recall.
In the Goodhue county records for October 15, 1861, is a paragraph which states that, as the county auditor, H. Mattson, has voluntarily gone to the war with a company of soldiers to defend our country, it is resolved that leave of absence shall be extended to him, and that the office of county auditor shall not be declared vacant so long as the deputy performs his duties properly.
The St. PaulPressof the same date, has the following: “We congratulate Capt. Mattson and his countrymen for the splendid company of Swedes and Norwegians which he commands. Never was a better company mustered in for service.”
In the beginning of November two steamers arrived at Fort Snelling and took the Third regiment on board. We were ordered to join Buell’s army in Kentucky. Company E, of our regiment, was also mainly from Goodhue county, and when the steamers arrived at Red Wing, they stopped half an hour to let Companies D and E partake of a bountiful supper, to which they had been invited by their city friends, and to say a last farewell to their families and acquaintances. My wife, with the little children, my sister, father, brother, and other relatives, were gathered in a large room in the hotel opposite the landing. The half hour was soon past, and the bugle sounded “fall in.” I pass over the parting scene, leaving it to the imagination of the reader, for I cannot find words to describe it myself. I will only relate one little episode. When the bugle sounded for departure I held my little two-year-old daughter in my arms; her arms were clasped around my neck, and, when I endeavored to set her down, she closed her little fingers so hard together that her uncle had to open them by force before he could take her away from me. When a little child was capable of such feelings, it may be surmised what those felt who were able to comprehend the significance of that moment.
In a few days we were camped on a muddy field in Kentucky, quickly learning the duties of soldier-life, and familiarizing ourselves with the daily routine of an army in the field.
My military career of four years’ duration passed without any event of particular interest or importance; it was like that of two million other soldiers—to do their duty faithfully, whatever that duty might be—that was all.
After eight months’ service I was promoted to the rank of major in the regiment. At that time we were serving in middle Tennessee. Shortly afterward our regiment, with some three thousand men of the troops, made a forced march across the Cumberland mountains. In order to give thereader an idea of the hardships which the soldiers occasionally had to endure on a march, I shall give a short sketch of this. The detachment broke camp in Murfreesboro in the forenoon of a very hot day toward the close of May, and marched twenty miles before night, which was considered a good distance for the first day. Most of the men suffered from blistered feet, and they were all very tired. We prepared our supper, and had just gone to rest in a large open field and were beginning to fall asleep, when, at ten o’clock in the evening, the signal was given to fall in. In a few minutes the whole force was in line, and silently resumed the march forward. We marched the whole night, the whole of the next day, the following night, and till noon the day after, moving altogether a distance of over eighty miles, over a difficult and partly mountainous country, and stopping only one hour three times a day to cook our coffee and eat, while those who sank down by the roadside entirely exhausted were left until the rear-guard came and picked them up. When we finally arrived at our destination the enemy that we were pursuing had already decamped, and we had to return by the same route over which we had come, though more leisurely. Among the many victims of this march was a bright Norwegian lieutenant of my old company, Hans Johnson, who died shortly after our return to Murfreesboro.
A few days afterward the regiment started on an expedition to the South. During this march I got sick with the fever, and would probably have died at Columbia, Tenn., if my friend Eustrom, who at that time was captain of Company D, had not succeeded in getting me into a rebel family, where I was treated with the greatest care, so that in a few days I was able to go by rail to Minnesota on a twenty days’ leave of absence. This took place in the beginning of the month of July, 1862.
Having spent a fortnight in the bosom of my family I returned, with improved health, to resume my command. I arrived at Chicago on a Sunday morning, and, as I had to wait all day for my train, I went to the Swedish church on Superior street. Leaving the church, I heard a news-boy crying, “Extra number of theTribune; great battle at Murfreesboro; Third Minnesota regiment in hot fire!” I bought the paper and hurried to the hotel, where another extra edition was handed me. The Union troops had won a decisive victory at Murfreesboro, and totally routed the forces of Forrest, consisting of eight thousand cavalry. Later in the evening a third extra edition announced that “The Third regiment has been captured by the enemy, and is on the march to the prisons of the South.” Only a soldier can imagine my feelings when I received this news. I arrived in Tennessee two days later, only to meet the soldiers returning from the mountains where they had been released on written parole by the enemy. They were sore-footed, exhausted, hungry and wild with anger, and looked more like a lot of ragged beggars than the well-disciplined soldiers they had been a few days before. All the captured officers had been taken to the South, where they were kept in prison several months. Only two of them succeeded in making their escape. One of those was Capt. Eustrom, who, in company with Lieut. Taylor, made his escape from a hospital building, some negroes giving them clothes, and, through almost incredible hardships and dangers, they succeeded in reaching our lines, and I met them two days after my arrival at Nashville.
The capitulation of our splendid regiment was one of the most deplorable events of its kind during the whole war. It was regarded one of the best regiments of volunteers of the Western army. It had defended itself with great valor, and,in fact, defeated the enemy, when for some unaccountable reason, Col. H. C. Lester decided to surrender, and he exerted such a great influence over our officers that seven company commanders went over to his side in the council of war, which he called, while the remaining officers and the soldiers were strongly opposed to the capitulation. When the men finally were ordered to stack arms they did so with tears in their eyes, complaining bitterly because they were not allowed to fight any longer. All the officers who had been in favor of capitulation were afterward dismissed from service in disgrace.
Arriving at Nashville I was immediately ordered to assume command of my own scattered regiment, of the Ninth Michigan Infantry regiment, and of a battery of artillery, which had also capitulated on that fatal Sunday. Having supplied the men with clothing and other necessaries, I took them by steamboats to a camp for prisoners in St. Louis, and returned to Nashville to report the matter in person. On my return to Nashville I was appointed member of a general court martial, and shortly afterwards its president, which position I occupied from July till December, 1862. The sufferings which my friend Captain Eustrom had endured during his flight from the rebels shattered his health so that he was soon forced to retire from service.
About this time the well-known Indian massacre in the western settlements of Minnesota took place. About eight hundred peaceable citizens, mostly women and children, and among those many Scandinavians—were cruelly butchered, and their houses and property burnt and destroyed. The soldiers of the Third regiment had given their parole not to take up arms against the enemy until they were properly exchanged, but, as this did not have anything to do with the Indian war, they were ordered from St. Louis to Minnesotaand put under the command of Major Welch, of the Fourth regiment, and soon distinguished themselves by their fine maneuvers and valor in the struggle with the Indians.
Events of 1863—The Siege of Vicksburg—Anecdotes about Gens. Logan, Stevenson and Grant—Little Rock Captured—Recruiting at Fort Snelling—The engagement at Fitzhugh’s Woods—Pine Bluff—Winter Quarters at Duvall’s Bluff—Death of Lincoln—Close of the War—The Third Regiment Disbanded.
Events of 1863—The Siege of Vicksburg—Anecdotes about Gens. Logan, Stevenson and Grant—Little Rock Captured—Recruiting at Fort Snelling—The engagement at Fitzhugh’s Woods—Pine Bluff—Winter Quarters at Duvall’s Bluff—Death of Lincoln—Close of the War—The Third Regiment Disbanded.
In the month of December the officers were exchanged and ordered back to Fort Snelling, to where the enlisted men had also returned from the Indian war. In January, 1863, we again left Minnesota for the South. The whole of this winter and the beginning of spring were devoted to expeditions against guerillas and Confederate recruiting camps in southern Tennessee. Most of this time I commanded the regiment, four companies of which were mounted. We had to procure horses as best we could, here and there through the country. We had many skirmishes with the enemy, and captured a number of prisoners.
In the beginning of June we joined the forces that were besieging Vicksburg under the command of Gen. Grant, and remained there until that city had capitulated. The siege of Vicksburg is so well known from history that I shall make no attempt to describe it here. For five consecutive weeks the cannonading was so incessant that the soldiers became as accustomed to it as the passengers on a steamer to the noise of the propeller, and, when the capitulation finally put an end to all this noise, we found it very difficult to sleep for several nights on account of the unusual silence.
The July number ofHemlandet, contained a letter from me, dated Vicksburg, June 24th, from which I make the following extract:
“The army of Gen. Grant is divided into two Grand Divisions, one of which is arranged in a semi-circle toward Vicksburg, only a few hundred yards from the intrenchments of the rebels, the other in a semi-circle turned away from Vicksburg, and fronting the army of Gen. Johnston. We are all protected by strong intrenchments, and always keep over two thousand men as picket guards, and the same number are digging rifle pits and building intrenchments.“Gen. Logan’s Division is close up to the intrenchments of the rebels. The Swedish Maj. Stohlbrand is chief of artillery in Logan’s Division, and, has, as such, under his special charge one of the most important positions in the beleaguering army.“I visited Gen. Logan yesterday, and will relate a little episode concerning this brave commander: When Gen. Logan heard that I was a Swede, and wished to see Maj. Stohlbrand, who had just ridden out to look after his batteries, the general, being always full of fun, assumed a very solemn air, and said: ‘Too bad you did not come an hour sooner, for then you could have seen Stohlbrand. There’—and he went to the door of his tent and pointed across the camp ground—‘there is the tent of Maj. Stohlbrand. Half an hour ago a bomb exploded from the main fort yonder. Poor Stohlbrand! Only a few remnants were left of the contents of his tent. Poor Stohlbrand! Perhaps you would like to see the remains?’“Accompanied by Gens. Stevenson, Ransom, and several other officers, I followed Gen. Logan to the tent of Stohlbrand. Then Logan said: ‘Out of respect for poor Stohlbrand we have put everything in order again. Here you see his camp stool, there his uniform, and there is his little field cot.’ The bed looked as if a dead body was lying on it, covered by a blanket. Logan walked solemnly up to the head of the bed, lifted the blanket, and behold, there was only a bundle of rags! The rest of us, of course, supposed that Stohlbrand was dead, and that his corpse was lying on the bed. This little joke made the humorous Logan laugh so that his whole body shook.“As to the Swedes in the army, I may mention that, besides our Company D, there are in the same division the company of Capt. Arosenius of the Forty-third Illinois regiment, and that of Capt. Corneliuson of the Twenty-third Wisconsin regiment, and a number of Swedes of the other regiments from Illinois and Wisconsin, and of the Fourth and Fifth Minnesota regiments. Old Company D is a model, as usual,—the best one I have seen yet. Both officers and men are quiet, orderly, cheerful and obedient, always faithful at their post, and ready to go wherever duty calls them. They are loved and respected by all who come in contact with them. WhenI feel sad or despondent, all I need do is to walk along the camp street and take a look at some of my old Scandinavians. Their calm and earnest demeanor always makes me glad and proud. I ask for no greater honor than to point them out to some stranger, saying: ‘This is my old company.’“Not these alone, however, but all of my countrymen whom I met in the army have a good name, and are considered most reliable and able soldiers.”
“The army of Gen. Grant is divided into two Grand Divisions, one of which is arranged in a semi-circle toward Vicksburg, only a few hundred yards from the intrenchments of the rebels, the other in a semi-circle turned away from Vicksburg, and fronting the army of Gen. Johnston. We are all protected by strong intrenchments, and always keep over two thousand men as picket guards, and the same number are digging rifle pits and building intrenchments.
“Gen. Logan’s Division is close up to the intrenchments of the rebels. The Swedish Maj. Stohlbrand is chief of artillery in Logan’s Division, and, has, as such, under his special charge one of the most important positions in the beleaguering army.
“I visited Gen. Logan yesterday, and will relate a little episode concerning this brave commander: When Gen. Logan heard that I was a Swede, and wished to see Maj. Stohlbrand, who had just ridden out to look after his batteries, the general, being always full of fun, assumed a very solemn air, and said: ‘Too bad you did not come an hour sooner, for then you could have seen Stohlbrand. There’—and he went to the door of his tent and pointed across the camp ground—‘there is the tent of Maj. Stohlbrand. Half an hour ago a bomb exploded from the main fort yonder. Poor Stohlbrand! Only a few remnants were left of the contents of his tent. Poor Stohlbrand! Perhaps you would like to see the remains?’
“Accompanied by Gens. Stevenson, Ransom, and several other officers, I followed Gen. Logan to the tent of Stohlbrand. Then Logan said: ‘Out of respect for poor Stohlbrand we have put everything in order again. Here you see his camp stool, there his uniform, and there is his little field cot.’ The bed looked as if a dead body was lying on it, covered by a blanket. Logan walked solemnly up to the head of the bed, lifted the blanket, and behold, there was only a bundle of rags! The rest of us, of course, supposed that Stohlbrand was dead, and that his corpse was lying on the bed. This little joke made the humorous Logan laugh so that his whole body shook.
“As to the Swedes in the army, I may mention that, besides our Company D, there are in the same division the company of Capt. Arosenius of the Forty-third Illinois regiment, and that of Capt. Corneliuson of the Twenty-third Wisconsin regiment, and a number of Swedes of the other regiments from Illinois and Wisconsin, and of the Fourth and Fifth Minnesota regiments. Old Company D is a model, as usual,—the best one I have seen yet. Both officers and men are quiet, orderly, cheerful and obedient, always faithful at their post, and ready to go wherever duty calls them. They are loved and respected by all who come in contact with them. WhenI feel sad or despondent, all I need do is to walk along the camp street and take a look at some of my old Scandinavians. Their calm and earnest demeanor always makes me glad and proud. I ask for no greater honor than to point them out to some stranger, saying: ‘This is my old company.’
“Not these alone, however, but all of my countrymen whom I met in the army have a good name, and are considered most reliable and able soldiers.”
I shall now relate a couple of anecdotes from the siege of Vicksburg, which I did not mention in the letter toHemlandet.
GRANT’S HEADQUARTERS.
Outside Gen. Logan’s tent stood a big magnolia tree. While laughing at Logan’s joke Gen. Stevenson picked up a little stick of wood and whittled on it with his penknife, in genuine Yankee fashion. Accidently he dropped his knife, and, while stooping down to pick it up, a fragment of a shell from the rebel batteries came and went two inches deep into the tree right where his head had been when he was whittling. He coolly remarked, “That piece of iron was not made for me.”
One day as I, in company with Lieut. Col. (afterwardGen.) C. C. Andrews, was visiting Gen. Grant outside of Vicksburg, a wagon drawn by six mules passed close by his headquarters. The driver, an old, rough-looking soldier, stopped, and asked the way to a certain regiment. Gen. Grant’s tent stood on a little elevation, at the foot of which were several fresh wagon tracks. A number of officers, including myself, were standing and sitting around the general outside the tent. Gen. Grant, who was dressed in a fatigue suit and slouched hat, without other marks of distinction than three small silver stars, which could scarcely be distinguished on his dusty blouse, went toward the driver and, with the most minute particulars, gave him directions how to drive. While he was talking, we observed that the driver showed signs of deep emotion, and finally he alighted from the mule, which he was riding, stretched out his arms, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed: “My God! I believe it is Gen. Grant! General, do you remember Tommy Donald? I was a soldier in your company during the Mexican war!” With touching kindness the great commander-in-chief now took both hands of the ragged soldier in his, and, like old friends who had not met for a long time, they rejoiced in remembering the companionship of fifteen years before.
ARMY WAGON.
When Gen. Grant returned to the tent the conversation turned to the newspaper clamor and general discontentbecause Vicksburg was not yet taken, upon which the general expressed himself in the following words: “I could make another assault and hasten the capture a few days, but will not do it because Iknowpositively that within ten days the garrison must surrender anyhow, for I have got them, and will take them all. Let them howl. I don’t care. I have got Pemberton tight as wax.” Saying which, he closed his right hand and laid it on the little camp table with such force that I noticed the veins filling and turning blue on the back of his hand. These two little incidents give a key to Gen. Grant’s whole character, and the secret of his unparalleled success, not only in winning battles, but in bagging the entire opposing force.
A week later Vicksburg fell into our hands. We took thirty-two thousand prisoners, fifteen generals, two thousand other officers, and nearly two hundred cannon.
GENERALS GRANT AND PEMBERTON.
About a week after the surrender of Vicksburg the Thirdregiment was transferred to the Seventh army corps, under the command of Gen. Fred. Steele, and took part in the campaign against Little Rock. In the beginning of September, when we were only ten miles from Little Rock, our regiment enjoyed the distinction of marching at the head of the infantry column. We came upon the Confederate batteries on the west bank of the Arkansas river, where a brisk cannonade was opened. This combat afforded the most beautiful sight imaginable, if carnage and slaughter may be called beautiful. We stood on the east side of the river, the Confederates on the west. The water being very low, a steamer had been grounded about an eighth of a mile above us, and near the steamer the water was so shallow that the cavalry could ford the river; but just in front of the Third regiment the water was so deep that we had to throw a pontoon bridge for the infantry.
Our regiment was stationed in a cornfield near the river bank to cover the march across the bridge, and the soldiers were ordered to lie down on the ground. But we found it very difficult to make them obey, for, in their eagerness to cross the river, they felt more like rushing ahead and shouting for joy. Many shots from the Confederate batteries passed over our heads, so low that the soldiers, in a sporting mood, jumped up and grabbed with their hands in the air, as if trying to catch them. In less than an hour the bridge across the deep channel was ready. A cavalry brigade had meanwhile moved up to the ford above, and now the signal for crossing was given. The Confederates set fire to the steamer, which they were unable to save.
It was about noon on one of those glorious autumn days peculiar to this country, which greatly enhanced the impression of the sublime spectacle then to be seen on the Arkansas river. The burning steamer reddening the atmosphere with brilliant flames of fire, a long line of cavalry fording theshallow river in three files, the infantry marching by the flank over the pontoon from which they jumped into the water, forming on double-quick, first companies, then battalion, whereupon they marched cheerily, in knee-deep water, under flying banners and to the beat of regimental music, while the air was filled with shells and balls. Before the infantry had reached the woods where the batteries of the enemy were hidden, the latter was already in retreat, and Little Rock soon fell into our hands.
On our march into the captured city the next morning, the Third regiment was again accorded the place of honor at the head of the army. It was designated to act as provost-guard for the purpose of maintaining order, and the whole regiment was soon quartered in the state capitol. Gen. C. C. Andrews, who held the position of colonel at that time, was appointed post commander at Little Rock, and I, who had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel soon after the surrender of Vicksburg, took command of the regiment, whereby it became my duty to maintain law and order in the captured city. This was an onerous and difficult task, for it must be remembered that the only executive authority in the southern states during the war was vested in the army, and especially delegated to the provost officers and guards. The third regiment was occupied with this task until the following spring, and performed its duty so well that the governor of Arkansas, in a message, expressed himself regarding it, in the following language:
“During the time of their service in our capital good order has prevailed, and they have commanded the respect of our citizens. When called upon to meet the enemy they have proven themselves equal to any task, and reliable in the hour of imminent danger. Such men are an honor to our government and the cause which they serve. Their state may justlyfeel proud of them, and they will prove themselves to be worthy sons of the same wherever duty calls them.”
Toward Christmas I was ordered to Fort Snelling, with a detachment of officers and non-commissioned officers, for the purpose of recruiting our decimated ranks. I remained on this duty till the month of March, and then returned with four hundred recruits. Shortly afterwards the battle of Fitzhugh’s Woods, near Augusta, Arkansas, was fought, and the regiment distinguished itself by very gallant conduct. During the stay in Little Rock most of the soldiers had re-enlisted for three years, or until the close of the war, whereby we acquired the title of “Veteran Regiment.” But that was not the only distinction which was conferred on our men. A large number of young soldiers had been promoted from the ranks to be officers in several negro regiments, which were organized in Tennessee and Arkansas, and some as officers of new regiments of our own state. Col. Andrews had meanwhile been promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and, in April, 1864, I was promoted to colonel of the regiment in his place, and was shortly afterward ordered to march with its eight hundred men to Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas river.
From this time until the beginning of August the regiment experienced such hardships and sufferings from diseases and hard service, that it sustained far greater losses from these causes than any other regiment from our state had met with in open battle. Pine Bluff was a veritable pest-hole; the water was of a greenish color, the air full of germs of disease and poisonous vapors. Continually surrounded and threatened by a vigilant enemy, the exhausted and sickly soldiers had to get up at three o’clock every morning for the purpose of working at the entrenchments and strengthening and protecting our position in different ways. Meanwhile the number of those fit for duty was daily decreasing at anappalling rate. The hospitals were overcrowded with patients, and the few men left for duty were continually occupied in caring for the sick and burying the dead, until there were not men enough left to bury their dead comrades, and I was obliged to ask a regiment, which had recently arrived, to help us perform that sad duty.
At this critical moment I received orders from Washington to take six companies to Minnesota, on a six weeks’ veteran furlough, to which the regiment was entitled. Those went who were able to. Many died on the way, but those of us who survived until we reached Minnesota were soon restored to usual health and strength, so that we could return in due time and again take part in the campaign in Arkansas. The remaining four companies, which had been furloughed the previous winter, were ordered from Pine Bluff to Duvall’s Bluff, on White river, where the whole regiment was reunited under my command in the beginning of October, and remained in winter quarters until the spring of 1865.
Shortly after our return to Arkansas I assumed command of the First Brigade, First Division, Seventh army corps. This brigade consisted of my own regiment, the Twelfth Michigan, the Sixty-first Illinois, and a United States colored regiment. Our prospects for remaining in winter quarters for several months being favorable, many of the higher officers sent for their wives. I did the same, having first erected a comfortable log house for us. My wife and two little children arrived a few days before Christmas, and stayed in the camp the whole winter. No important event took place during the winter, excepting that we were once ordered to make an expedition up White river, with a considerable force of cavalry and infantry, and, after a fatiguing march, succeeded in breaking up a camp of irregular Confederate troops, and taking many prisoners.
I will relate two incidents which took place near Duvall’s Bluff, one of a serious, the other of a comic nature.
The first was the shooting of a young soldier of the Twenty-second Ohio regiment, who time and again had deserted his post, and finally joined a band of rebel marauders. It became my sad duty to execute the sentence of death. My brigade formed a hollow square, facing inward, and the doomed man, a strong, handsome youth of twenty years, sat on a coffin in an open ambulance, which was driven slowly along the inside of the square, while a band marched in front of the wagon playing a funeral march. After the completion of this sad march the deserter was placed in the middle of the square, in front of the coffin, with his eyes blind-folded. A detachment of twelve men under a sergeant now fired simultaneously, upon the signal of the provost marshal. Eight rifles were loaded with balls, and the unfortunate young man fell backwards into his coffin and died without a struggle.
SHOOTING A DESERTER.
One day while taking a ride on horseback in company withmy wife, who had a fine saddle horse, and had become an expert rider during her long stay in the camp, we galloped mile after mile along the fine plain, outside of the picket-lines where men of my own brigade were on guard, till at last we found ourselves several miles from the place where we had passed through our lines. Returning toward camp, we struck the picket line at a point where a recently arrived regiment was stationed, and where the ground was soft and marshy. Being challenged by the guard I answered who I was, but as he could not plainly distinguish my uniform in the twilight and did not know me personally, he ordered us, with leveled gun, to stand still until he could call the officer of the guard. It was no easy matter to obey his orders, for the horses continually sank down in the soft ground, but finally the officer arrived, and we succeeded in getting to the camp without further trouble. I was not the first officer who thus got into trouble by neglecting to write out a pass for himself.
On a fine April day, which can never be forgotten, the news came that our president, Abraham Lincoln, had been murdered. Stricken with consternation I hurried down to the Third regiment in person to tell the sad news. Never, either before or since, have I witnessed such a scene as the one that followed. Some of the men went completely wild with sorrow, weather-beaten veterans, embracing each other, wept aloud, others swore and cursed. In the prison yard, which was guarded by men belonging to my regiment, a rebel prisoner took off his cap, waived it in the air and cried, “Hurrah for Booth!” A man by the name of Stark immediately loaded his gun and shot the rebel dead on the spot. Many others, both inside and outside the camp, were shot because they expressed joy at the death of Lincoln. Passions were strong, and all tolerance and patience exhausted among the Union soldiers on that occasion. The main army of theConfederates had already surrendered when this calamity occurred, and the war was in fact over. A few days afterward we sent our families home.
Reconstruction in the South—Third Regiment Mustered Out—The Farewell Order—Sacrifices and Costs of the War.
Reconstruction in the South—Third Regiment Mustered Out—The Farewell Order—Sacrifices and Costs of the War.
A very important work still remained to be accomplished by the union army, namely, the restoration of law and order in the southern states. I had the honor to be entrusted with a portion of that work, an account of which was given in a paper prepared and read by me before the commandery of the military order Loyal Legion, at one of its meetings in St. Paul, in March, 1889, from which I quote as follows:
“After listening to the many interesting addresses on battles and campaigns that have been read before the commandery at our monthly meetings, I fear that you will be disappointed, not only with the subject of this paper, but also with the commonplace incidents which I have to relate, and yet I think that the part taken by the Union army in the so-called reconstruction of civil government in the rebellious states immediately after the war deserves a place in the history of that army and of the war. All the world knows how bravely our soldiers fought, how willingly they endured hardships of the camp and of the wearisome march, how patiently they bore sickness, wounds, and sufferings of every kind, and how faithfully they obeyed the orders of advance to danger and to death. But there is still another trait of their character, perhaps the greatest of them all, that of the good citizen, who was able, as soon as the last smoke of battle had cleared away, to restrain all feelings of enmityand revenge, to take the enemy by the hand, to guide, help, and protect him and his in all the rights of citizenship, and it is of that I would relate some facts that came under my own observation and experience.
“Having been stationed at Duvall’s Bluff, Arkansas, in command of a brigade, of which my own regiment, the Third Minnesota infantry, formed a part, I received orders from Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds, commanding the Department of Arkansas, on the 15th of May, 1865, to establish a military post at Batesville, Arkansas, on the upper White river, and to take command of a district comprising the north-eastern portion of that state. The field organization of the Seventh army corps, to which we belonged, was being broken up. Some of the regiments were sent home to be mustered out of service; others were sent to different points for purposes of occupation. My own regiment and two squadrons of the Ninth Kansas Cavalry were detailed for the work given in my charge.
“On the 18th of May we embarked on steam transports, and reached Batesville on the 20th. A few days later my post headquarters was established at Jacksonport, and the troops were distributed at different points with one or two companies for each, at Batesville, Searcy, Augusta, Powhatan; and the main force at Jacksonport, from which point frequent cavalry patrols were sent to the outlying stations.
“The topography of that country is very irregular and unique. The eastern portion, bordering upon the Mississippi, is flat and marshy, with many lakes and bayous, and has a rich, alluvial soil. The other portion is very broken, with hills and mountain ridges, rocks, caves and beautiful streams, but poor soil. The lowlands had been occupied by wealthy slave owners, whose sympathies were strong for the Southern cause. The highlands were occupied by the poorer class, only a few of whom had owned slaves. Many of this classwere strong Union men, and soldiers in the Union army. During the great struggle of four years many bloody tragedies had been enacted between the loyal and the rebel residents, and bitter feelings of revenge still rankled in the breasts of the survivors. During the whole period of the war the country had been swept clean, at rapid intervals, by both armies alternately, and each time new atrocities had been perpetrated, and all the worst passions of the people rekindled. It had also been a place of refuge for the worst rebel elements in southern Missouri, when too hardly pressed by our friend Gen. Sanborn[2]and other Union commanders. At the time of our arrival the surviving soldiers from both armies were returning to their homes, also many refugees,—rebels from Texas and Union men from the North,—most of them to find their families destitute and their property destroyed.
“The irregular Confederate troops under Gen. Jeff. Thompson, numbering some eight thousand men, had not yet surrendered, but were scattered over the district in a thoroughly demoralized condition, so that the whole situation was rather peculiar and very bad, and it was a difficult task to prevent fresh outbreaks, and to restore order and get the people started anew in the peaceful avocations of life.
“My instructions were to preserve law and order, to organize and arm companies of home colonists for self-protection, to encourage agriculture and commerce, and to assist the citizens in restoring civil government. The men under my command during the early reconstruction period had certainly no reason to love Arkansas, because they had not only buried their best friends and comrades within its borders, but had themselves for months and months experienced there that dreadful suffering most feared by all soldiers, and for which few receive any credit,—namely, the inglorious privationof the silent watch,—in the swamp, in the trenches, in the hospital, on the camp-stretcher, and in the ambulance,—when tired, sore, sick, thirsty, lonely, and seemingly forsaken by God and man, unknown and with praise unsung, with no cheering sound of drum or bugle, no battle flag or cheer in sight or hearing, no voice of comrades or of guns, and no magic touch of elbows or shouts of victory. These men had experienced all that, and had no special reason to sympathize with the inhabitants who had done their full share to bring them into so much misery. And now observe how they treated those inhabitants. Immediately on arriving at Batesville the following order was promulgated, and, by the aid of an old printing press and swift couriers, scattered all over the district:
‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.‘General Order No. 1.‘I. It is hereby announced to the people of Batesville and surrounding country that the chief object of the federal occupation of this place is their protection against armed forces, of whatever kind, to give encouragement to agriculture and other peaceful pursuits, and to restore commercial intercourse.‘II. The public safety and mutual interests demand that all persons living within our lines and enjoying the protection of the nation’s forces shall declare their obedience to the government.‘III. It is ordered, therefore, that all persons now living or hereafter coming within our picket-lines who have not taken but desire to take the oath of allegiance, with the purpose of restoring and establishing the national authority, shall register their names without delay in the provost marshal’s office, where the oath will be administered.‘By order of‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’
‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.
‘General Order No. 1.
‘I. It is hereby announced to the people of Batesville and surrounding country that the chief object of the federal occupation of this place is their protection against armed forces, of whatever kind, to give encouragement to agriculture and other peaceful pursuits, and to restore commercial intercourse.
‘II. The public safety and mutual interests demand that all persons living within our lines and enjoying the protection of the nation’s forces shall declare their obedience to the government.
‘III. It is ordered, therefore, that all persons now living or hereafter coming within our picket-lines who have not taken but desire to take the oath of allegiance, with the purpose of restoring and establishing the national authority, shall register their names without delay in the provost marshal’s office, where the oath will be administered.
‘By order of
‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.
‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’
“On the same day a beginning was made to organize companies of home colonists among the great number of Union refugees who had followed the troops to Batesville. Arms and ammunition were placed in their hands, and the following instruction given:
‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.‘To the members of Companies of Home Colonists:‘You will, as soon as practicable, depart with your families to your several homes, and there proceed to cultivate the land and secure a crop for the coming year.‘The arms and ammunition with which you have now been furnished by the government of the United States are for the protection of yourselves and families, and for no other purpose.‘The laws of your state guarantee you full redress for private injuries; you will therefore leave all disputes and wrongs to be settled by them and by the military authority of the United States, and it is only against the armed force of marauders that you will resort to the use of these arms; remember, always, that you are not soldiers, but citizens.‘You will promptly report to your own officers and to the military commander of this post any information you may obtain of armed forces of marauders; and in case of emergency you are authorized to act as a military body in pursuing them. The commanding officer will always extend to you aid, both in men and subsistence, so far as lies in his power, but you must, like free and independent citizens, place yourselves, by industrious labor, as soon as possible, beyond the necessity of federal support.‘Let your conduct among your late enemies be such as will elicit their friendship.‘By assisting me to carry out the magnanimous policy of our government you will soon have peace and security restored to your community, and happiness and plenty to yourselves and your families.‘By order of‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’
‘Headquarters U. S. Forces,‘Batesville, Ark., May 22, 1865.
‘To the members of Companies of Home Colonists:
‘You will, as soon as practicable, depart with your families to your several homes, and there proceed to cultivate the land and secure a crop for the coming year.
‘The arms and ammunition with which you have now been furnished by the government of the United States are for the protection of yourselves and families, and for no other purpose.
‘The laws of your state guarantee you full redress for private injuries; you will therefore leave all disputes and wrongs to be settled by them and by the military authority of the United States, and it is only against the armed force of marauders that you will resort to the use of these arms; remember, always, that you are not soldiers, but citizens.
‘You will promptly report to your own officers and to the military commander of this post any information you may obtain of armed forces of marauders; and in case of emergency you are authorized to act as a military body in pursuing them. The commanding officer will always extend to you aid, both in men and subsistence, so far as lies in his power, but you must, like free and independent citizens, place yourselves, by industrious labor, as soon as possible, beyond the necessity of federal support.
‘Let your conduct among your late enemies be such as will elicit their friendship.
‘By assisting me to carry out the magnanimous policy of our government you will soon have peace and security restored to your community, and happiness and plenty to yourselves and your families.
‘By order of
‘Col. H. Mattson, Commanding.
‘P. E. Folsom, Lieutenant and Post Adjutant.’
“In a remarkably short time the news of the policy thus announced spread to the most remote parts of the district, and had a very beneficial effect. It inspired hope and confidence everywhere. The disloyal people came out of their hiding places, and, with apparent sincerity and gratitude, took the oath of allegiance, and went to work as good citizens to perform their part in the work of reconstruction. Union men and rebels shook hands over the bloody chasm, and agreed to bury the past and work together for a better future.
“Soon another class of people came in large numbers to seek help and protection from the Union forces. It was the poverty-stricken old men, and the women and children who had lost their natural protectors. It was a sight sad enough to move the stoutest hearts to look at their helplessness and misery, and I never had a more pleasant duty to perform than that of relieving their wants at the expense of our generous government. The department commander had placed a steamboat at my disposal, and given me unlimited power to draw on the commissary stores at Duvall’s Bluff. That steamer made regular trips with supplies for all who were actually in need, and most of the applicants returned to their homes with plenty of flour, bacon, salt, seed, corn and other necessaries, with a government mule sometimes thrown in to carry the load home, and there was no distinction made between rebels and Unionists, except that the former were placed on their good behavior as to their future conduct. It was in this work that our soldiers,—officers and men,—showed without exception, that trait of character which entitles them to the name of exemplary citizens as well as exemplary soldiers, which they had previously earned in a service of four years. They never forgot that the conquered inhabitants were our own people, and members of the same great republic.
“After a while our picket lines were withdrawn, and only enough guards posted to take care of the public property. Citizens and soldiers mingled freely in social intercourse, not as conquerors and conquered, but as friends and equals, our men interesting themselves in everything that tended to the welfare of the citizens, often helping them in their work and business, and always treating the helpless with gallantry and tenderness. On the Fourth of July citizens and soldiers, ex-rebels and Union men, to the number of many hundreds, met under the stars and stripes, in a lovely grove, to celebratethe day around an old-fashioned barbecue, and, for nearly two days and a night, enjoyed a feast of brotherly love and good will, all proud of the old banner, and happy to be again united as one people.
“During the summer elections were held for town and county officers, and as soon as such officers had qualified, the soldiers, even more readily than the citizens themselves, did all in their power to uphold their authority. In many instances good penmen and accountants among the soldiers gave their services gratuitously to help the newly-elected civil officers start their books and accounts. To the honor of the rebels, especially the returned soldiers, I must say that they behaved in a most exemplary manner, and accepted the situation with good grace and acted most cordially and loyally toward us. The Freedmen’s Bureau was not established in that district during my time of command, but I was informed by a friend, Maj. J. M. Bowler, who had command the following winter, that the planters generally yielded to the requirements of that department as soon as it was established; that they made fair contracts with the liberated slaves and strictly and carefully observed them, and were in all respects considerate toward the freedmen generally. Of course, I do not mean to say that all the citizens behaved so well. There were exceptions, even in the first days of reconstruction, and those exceptions were nearly all by the men who had never faced the Union soldiers in open battle, but had either skulked or resorted to guerilla warfare. But I do mean to say that in those early days, before President Johnson had began to show his final hand, the rebels were disposed to accept the situation in a manly and loyal way, and that, if the policy inaugurated by the Union army had been adhered to, the country would probably have been saved from the Ku-Klux and other horrors of a later period.
“One strange fact was deeply impressed upon my mind during the time of my command in Northeastern Arkansas, namely, the genuine regret and sorrow among the returning rebel soldiers over President Lincoln’s death. They not only respected him, but actually regarded him as a friend, because they believed him to be kind and just; so that, whatever measures he might have adopted, had he lived, they believed that they could have submitted to them with full confidence that it would be for the best. I can not better illustrate that feeling, as it was daily manifested to me, than by comparing it to the faith and confidence of erring children to an offended but loving father.
“The most noted and influential rebel in the district at that time was, undoubtedly, Gen. Jeff. Thompson. On the 3d of June this noted general arrived at my headquarters at Jacksonport, pursuant to previous arrangements, to surrender his command, consisting of eight thousand officers and men, who began to crowd in on that and the following day in great numbers. They were the hardest looking soldiers I have ever seen. Jeff. Thompson himself was a man of commanding appearance, and a perfect gentleman. In my journal of that day I have described him as follows: ‘He is a tall, sinewy, weather-beaten man, a queer looking genius, dressed in a suit of snowy white, from the plume in his hat to the heel of his boot, and with a white sword-belt and white gloves. He is a clever chap, full of fun, telling great yarns, and an incessant talker.’ I should judge he was about forty-five years old. On the third day after his arrival the troops had all assembled, and the surrender took place in due form. A staff officer from the Department of Missouri and another from the Department of Arkansas witnessed the proceedings and received the documents. When all was finished, Jeff. Thompson had his men assemble on the levee in front of a steamboat, from the cabin-deck of which hedelivered his farewell address. I stood by his side while he spoke, and expected every moment to see him pierced by some well-directed bullet from the crowd on shore, but he was allowed to finish his address without interruption, after which the men slunk out of sight, and before evening the whole motley crowd had left the town with the determination, as I verily believe, to follow the good advice of their general. The address deserves a place among our papers, and I will read it, as it appeared a few weeks later in Harper’s Magazine, from averbatimreport made by one of my officers. He said: