CHAPTER XIV.
At the request of Captain W. T. Rigby, Chairman of the National Military Park Commission of Vicksburg, to visit that place for the purpose of locating the positions held by my regiment during the siege in 1863, I did visit Vicksburg, Miss., in August, 1902.
I found the weather very hot, 99 degrees in the shade. However, it was not as hot as it was when we were in that “crater” at Fort Hill, years ago. The people of Vicksburg greeted me with a glad hand. The contrast of long ago was striking. About the first man I met was an old grizzled veteran wearing the Confederate button and, seeing my G. A. R. button, he came up, and, extending his hand, greeted me: “How are you, comrade; we wear different buttons, but we are brothers;” and I shook his hand heartily and we had a pleasant chatof the siege. Then, we were shooting minie-balls at each other; now, our shots were story and laughter.
Captain Rigby drove me out to the Federal and Confederate lines. Many changes have taken place. Some few of the trenches and breastworks remain, but many have been smoothed off for the plow. As we drove to the spot where we camped, near the old “Shirley House,” I said to myself, “Am I dreaming?” Can it be that this quiet, deserted place, overgrown with weeds and bushes, with no sound save the sweet songs of the birds in the trees is the same spot where, in the summer of 1863, so much life and action was seen each day; and where, instead of the music of the birds, it was the music of the whizzing minie-ball or the shrieking shell. In thought I went back to those days of noise and blood, and I involuntarily looked over to Fort Hill to see if the Confederate stronghold was still there, and listened to hear the sharp crack of the sharpshooter’srifle from the trenches, but all is quiet and hushed. I am soothed by the stillness, the quiet and peace that pervades these hills and ravines, and I wander in memory’s hall of the long ago, when I am brought back to the present by Captain Rigby, with: “Now, Crummer, you must locate the position of the camp of your regiment during the siege.” This I proceeded to do, having no difficulty, for the “Shirley House” is still there, although tumbling down and going to ruin. Thanks to the Illinois Commission, headed by Gen. John C. Black and others, Congress has made an appropriation to have the “Shirley House” restored to its former state. This house will be remembered for its prominence during the siege as a place of observation by general officers and as headquarters of the 45th Illinois. Quite a number of officers and soldiers were shot in this house by the Confederate sharpshooters.
I wandered through its ruins and you cannot imagine my feelings as I stepped into the northwestroom and stood on the identical spot where on July 2, 1863, in the afternoon, while writing out an ordinance report, a Confederate sharpshooter sent a minie-ball through my right lung.
I placed marker 403 as the center of our camp and No. 484 marks the right of the camp of the 45th Regiment. This done, we approached Fort Hill on the Jackson road, and although the entrenchments and forts have been generally leveled off for agricultural purposes, changing the face of the hills, yet there is enough left to show where the main lines were. No. 489 marks the point where Major L. H. Cowen, 45th Illinois, was killed in the assault on the afternoon of May 22, 1863. The charge was made by the regiment, by right, in front. Major Cowen and myself were in the lead and running together when he fell. Being Orderly Sergeant of Co. A, it was my duty to be there.
No. 488 marks the center of the line of the 45th Illinois at the time of its closest approachto the Confederate line in the assault of May 22, 1863.
While walking over this ground I remembered how close we hugged that sloping hill, lying there in the scorching sun, with no chance to return the withering fire of the enemy.
Captain Rigby then asked me if I could locate the “crater” and Gen. Logan’s line of approach to it. I walked over the hill, groping my way through the tall weeds and undergrowth, and, coming back to the captain, reported, by saying, “I can.” “Good,” he said; “you may drive the markers.” I then drove marker No. 487 at the center of the west line of the crater made by the explosion under the 3rd Louisiana Redan (we called it Fort Hill) June 25, 1863. It may be questioned why I could be so certain about the location of the “crater,” in as much as the fort had been completely demolished. My principal reason is this: Sergeant Esping, of our regiment, who fell in the “crater,” pierced by a ball through his brain,was by my side at the time. We were together in the northwest corner of the “crater” and we had a splendid chance of doing good work, by looking off down the ridge to the right and northwest from the “crater,” and firing on the Confederates in the trenches. Those old trenches where the Confederates were on June 25, 1863, are still there, so in walking over the hill and getting the right angle to those trenches, I was able to locate the “crater.”
Markers Nos. 485 and 486 indicate the line of Logan’s sap, or approach, to Fort Hill, commencing at the Jackson road. Captain Rigby thanked me heartily for my services of the day.
The 45th Illinois Infantry bore an honorable part in the siege, as the official records show.
The report of our Brigade Commander, Gen. M. B. Leggett, published in the official records at Washington, under date of July 6, 1863, relative to the charge and fighting in the “crater,” is interesting and tends to corroborate the writer’s statements.
* * * “At 3:30 p. m. of June 25, 1863, my command was in readiness, the 45th Illinois being the first, supported by the other regiments of the brigade and Lieut. H. C. Foster of the 23rd Indiana, with 100 men, being placed in the left hand sap, with orders to charge with the 45th Illinois, provided they attempted to cross the enemy’s works. At 4:30 o’clock the mine was sprung and before the dirt and smoke was cleared away the 45th Illinois had filled the gap made by the explosion and were pouring deadly volleys into the enemy. As soon as possible loop-hole timber was placed upon the works for the sharpshooters, but the enemy opened a piece of artillery at very close range on that point and the splintering timbers killed and wounded more men than did balls, and I ordered the timbers to be removed. Hand grenades were then freely used by the enemy, which made sad havoc amongst my men, for, being in the crater of the exploded mine, the sides of which were covered by the men, scarcely a grenade was thrown without doing damage, and in most instances horribly mangling those they happened to strike. The 45th Illinois, after holding the position and fighting desperately until their guns were too hot for further use, were relieved by the 20th Illinois. The 20th Illinois was relieved by the 31st Illinois and they in turn by the 56th Illinois, but, their ammunition being bad, they were unable to hold the position and were relieved by the 23rd Indiana; the 17th Iowa then relieving the 23rd Indiana, and the 31st Illinois relieving them, held the position until daylight,when the 45th Illinois relieved them and held the position until 10:00 a. m. of the 26th; the 124th Illinois then relieved the 45th Illinois and held the position until 5:00 p. m., when I received orders to withdraw to the left hand gap, where I maintained the position until the surrender on July 4th, when, by order of Major General Logan, my brigade led by the 45th Illinois, was honored with the privilege of being the first to enter the garrison, and the flag of the 45th Illinois the first to float over the conquered city.”
* * * “At 3:30 p. m. of June 25, 1863, my command was in readiness, the 45th Illinois being the first, supported by the other regiments of the brigade and Lieut. H. C. Foster of the 23rd Indiana, with 100 men, being placed in the left hand sap, with orders to charge with the 45th Illinois, provided they attempted to cross the enemy’s works. At 4:30 o’clock the mine was sprung and before the dirt and smoke was cleared away the 45th Illinois had filled the gap made by the explosion and were pouring deadly volleys into the enemy. As soon as possible loop-hole timber was placed upon the works for the sharpshooters, but the enemy opened a piece of artillery at very close range on that point and the splintering timbers killed and wounded more men than did balls, and I ordered the timbers to be removed. Hand grenades were then freely used by the enemy, which made sad havoc amongst my men, for, being in the crater of the exploded mine, the sides of which were covered by the men, scarcely a grenade was thrown without doing damage, and in most instances horribly mangling those they happened to strike. The 45th Illinois, after holding the position and fighting desperately until their guns were too hot for further use, were relieved by the 20th Illinois. The 20th Illinois was relieved by the 31st Illinois and they in turn by the 56th Illinois, but, their ammunition being bad, they were unable to hold the position and were relieved by the 23rd Indiana; the 17th Iowa then relieving the 23rd Indiana, and the 31st Illinois relieving them, held the position until daylight,when the 45th Illinois relieved them and held the position until 10:00 a. m. of the 26th; the 124th Illinois then relieved the 45th Illinois and held the position until 5:00 p. m., when I received orders to withdraw to the left hand gap, where I maintained the position until the surrender on July 4th, when, by order of Major General Logan, my brigade led by the 45th Illinois, was honored with the privilege of being the first to enter the garrison, and the flag of the 45th Illinois the first to float over the conquered city.”
The National Park Commission are doing a noble work. Capt. Rigby is the right man in the right place and with a corps of engineers is working day and night to make a beautiful park for the delight of the people that come after us. The state of Iowa has done the noble thing in appropriating $150,000 to place monuments in the park on the spot which the different Iowa regiments occupied during the siege. The Illinois legislature has also made an appropriation of $250,000 for monuments for the 78 different organizations engaged in that memorable siege. When the memorial tablets from the different states shall have been placed andthe park fully laid out and completed, it will be one of the notable historic battle fields of the Union, and one which we of the North will occasionally visit with great interest. And now I close my sketch with this prayer: that war may never come to our fair land again, but that blessed peace, prosperity and righteousness may ever be our heritage.