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MUSKETS AND MEDICINE
OR
ARMY LIFE IN THE SIXTIES
BY
CHARLES BENEULYN JOHNSON, M.D.
Ri^ht I nots, most rr.i^hty so-^varir.e.
That all this fainous antiq'je history, Of some th' abundance of an idle braine
Will judged be, and painted forgery."
PHILADELPHIA
F. A DAVIS COMPANY, Publishers
English Depot
Stanley Phillips, London
1917
MUSKETS AND MEDICINE
OR
ARMY LIFE IN THE SIXTIES
BY
CHARLES BENEULYN JOHNSON, M.D.
"Right I note, most rr.ighty scuvarine. That all this famous antique history, Of some th' abundance of an idle braine ■Will judged be, and painted forgery."
Edmu>.-d Spenseh..
PHILADELPHIA
E. A DAVIS COMPANY, Publishers
English Depot
Stanley Phillips, London
1917
TO MY COMRADES WHO WORE THE BLUE,
AND TO OTHER FRIENDS,
SOME OF WHOM WORE THE GRAY,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.
CH.\RLES BENEULYN JOHNSON OCTOBER 8, 1843 - MAY 28, 1928
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PREFACE,
It was the fortune of the author of this volume to live in one of the Great Eras in the history of this Country — an Era that brought on the public stage an exceptional number of Able Statesmen, Em.inent Soldiers, Dis- tinguished Leaders — and Abraham Lincoln.
It was, furthermore, the author's fortune to bear a humble part in the Greatest Event of that Great Era; and of some things pertaining thereto he ventures to speak in the following pages.
C. B. J.
Champaign, Illinois.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PACE
I.— Breaking-out of the Civil War 11
II. — The Civil War, Seen from a Quiet Neighbor- hood 17
III. — "Six Hundred Thousand More" 2'9
IV. — From Cornfield to Camp 39
V. — From Camp to Enemy's Country 43
VI. — In and About Memphis, Tenn., During the
Winter of 1862-3 54
VII. — The Vicksburg Campaign 66
VIII.— Our First Battle 7S
IX. — Attack on Vicksburg from the South and
East 9^3
X. — Assalt-t and Siege of the Confederate Strong- hold 102
XI. — Running the Vicksburg Batteries 115
XII.— Personnel of Our Hospital Staff 123
XIII. — Equipment, Work and Some Attaches of Our
Regimental Hospital 129
XIV. — Our Most Efficient Cook and How I Undid
Him 135
XV. — From Vicksburg to New Orleans 139
X\'I.— Soldiering on Bayou Teche 145
XVII. — From the Teche to Texas 152
X\^III. — Some of the More Prevalent Diseases 157
XIX. — The Author Becomes .an Inv.alid 167
XX. — On the Mississippi in 1864 1S5
XXL— Aunt Tilda 190
Contents.
CHAPTER PAGE
XXII. — How THE Soldiers Recer^d their Money and
How Some of Them Got Rid of it 197
XXIII. — Some E\^nts in 1864-5 — Politics and War 201
XXIV.— The Moe._e Campaign— 1865 212
XXV. — Fall of Mobile and the Beginning of the End. 225 XXVI. — A Confederate Mail-bag and a Glimpse at
Some of its Contents 231
XXVII. — Surrender of the Confederate Armies 237~
XXVIII. — Disbanding the Armies 242
Appendix 250
In the Trenchc-s, lSr,l-5.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FACING PAGE
]n the Trenches, 1861-5 Frontispiece
Thomas W. Hynes, D.D., a Clerical Patriot in the Sixties . . 32
Pocahontas Flag ; Real "Old Glory" 40
General Grant as he looked during the Vicksburg Campaign. 64
U, S. Army Hospital Steamer "D. A. J.anuar>^" 72
Interior of Hospital Boat. Cots made up for reception of
patients 72
Captain Wm. M. Colby, 130th Illinois Volunteers. Mortally
Wounded at Vicksburg, May 22, 1863 104
Miajor George W. Kennard, late Commander of the steamer
"Horizon," which ran the Vicksburg batteries on the
night of April 22, 1863 120
Charles B. Johnson, age 21, Hospital Steward, 130th Illinois
Infantry Volunteers 128
Civil War Hospital Knapsacks 136
Some Civil War Missiles 136
Hospital Ambulance 144
Army Wagon fitted up for carr\'ing wounded 144
Civil War body louse, or "grayback" (Pediculus Vestinienti) .
From picture taken in war time 168
Lieutenant-Colonel John B. Reid, 130th Illinois Infantry
Volunteers 184
Aunt Tilda 200
Springfield Musket, made in America, and one of which the
author carried through the Mobile Campaign in the
Spring of 1865 240
Hospital Steward's Chevrons, worn by author in Civil War
Medical Service; and kind of Bottle from which he
dispensed quinine 240
Private J. W. Januan,^, who amputated his own feet 256
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It
M^-J-
CHAPTER I.
Breaking Out of The Civil War.
'There is a sound of thunder afar, Storm in the South that darkens the day, Storm of battle and thunder of war — "
— Tennyson.
The winter of 1860-l-'Vvab 'a- period of anxious, sMici- tude to the people of the Northern States, for in the most literal sense, no man knew what an hour would bring forth. Just before Christmas South Carolina seceded from the Union, and in this rash act, she was a little later followed by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. In heavy headlines the papers announced these facts, and, in addition, detailed the seemingly arrogant methods and inflammatory speeches of Secession leaders.
Although I was but seventeen years of age, these pro- ceedings shocked my feelings; for, as a schoolboy, I had been thrilled by the story of the Revolution and of the sacrifices made by our Patriot Fathers to finally establish the Federal Union. Furthermore, my mind had been thoroughly im-bued with the noble words of Web- ster, in which he pleaded for the permanence and per- petuity of that Union. What I felt, however, was doubtless experienced by thousands of boys north of the Ohio River, and not a few farther south, who later yielded up their lives as a sacrifice to this sentiment.
Unfavorable as was the winter of 1860-1 for study, in consequence of the perturbed state of the countn-, I
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12 Muskets and Medicine.
nevertheless put in my time attending our village school, and, at its close, crossed its threshold for the last time as a pupil.
Our little village, which bore the distinction of having been named after a famed Indian maiden, ^ watched with intense interest the events of the day. Our location was nearly twenty miles from the nearest railway station, and hither a mail-boy went one day with out-going mail-mat- ter, and returned next day with letters and papers for the villagers.
As thet tiiDe for the mail-boy's arrival approached men and boys gathered on the porch-front of the postoffice, and, as patiently as possible, awaited his coming. Mean- time, many anxious eyes would watch the road upon which he would come with his much-prized burden, papers containing the latest news.
If all went well, the much -looked- for mail-boy would, in due time, come in sight, and, seeing the waiting crowd, urge his already jaded horse to a jogging trot. Before the boy could have time to dismount, one of the two or three daily papers taken in the village would be seized upon by someone who would mount a box or barrel and read aloud the latest news to the anxious listeners.
As the spring of 1861 approached much was said about the critical situation of Major Anderson at Fort Moultrie; about the firing upon the steamship Star of the West, by South Carolinians in Charleston Harbor; about the right and feasibility^ of coercion by the Na- tional Government, etc. Finally, when Major Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie and occupied Fort Sumter, all eyes were concentrated on him and his gallant little band of soldiers.
1 Pocahontas, Bond Count)', Illinois.
Fort Sumter Falls. 13
One day, near the middle of April, t±ie mail-boy came with a larger-than-usual supply of papers, and these in extra hea\y headlines had the words : "Fort Sumter Falls" ; "Heroic Defense of the Garrison" ; "Thirty-six Hours of Terrific Bombardment!" Then followed sev- eral columns giving details of the whole dramatic affair, the gallant defense of the noble Commandant and his devoted followers.
Very naturally. Major Anderson became the hero of the hour, and the papers were filled with eulogistic notices and full details of his individual histor}\ About this time I inquired of one much older and much wiser than myself, who, in his judgment, would lead the Union Armies and be the bright, shining light of the war. The answer was, "Major Anderson, undoubtedly."
At this time Captain U. S. Grant was filling a menial place in his father's leather store, at Galena, 111., doubt- less absolutely ignorant of his latent military genius, and, in his wildest dreams, not cognizant of the great career immediately before him.
As to Major Anderson, he was speedily made a Brigadier-General and given an important command in Kentucky, but from failing health, later retired from active service, and soon passed out of public notice.
Immediately upon the fall of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln issued a call for sevents'-five thousand volun- teers, and I recall my amazement at what seemed to me the largeness of this call. As I recalled American his- tory, the reasons for this state of mind were not far to seek : The combined army, French and American, at the Siege of Yorktown, aggregated only sixteen thousand. Yet this army was the largest and, in every way, the most complete of any immediately under Washington's
14 Muskets and Medicine.
command during the whole eight years of the Revolu- tionary War, and compelled the surrender of Lord Corn- wallis in ten days' time, and thus virtually conquered the Independence of the American Colonies.
Furthermore, in 1847 General Scott, with only eleven thousand men, overcame every obstacle, triumphantly entered the City of Mexico, and thus ended the war with our Southern neighbor.
But the War of the "Great Rebellion" had continued only a few months when Lincoln found urgent need far many more soldiers, and was severely criticised for not making his first call much larger. That call, by the way, was for volunteers to serv^e three months, as the belief at first prevailed that the war would last only a short time, and conquering the enemy would be merely "a breakfast-spell," to use a phrase of that period.
The Free States, nineteen in number, responded pat- riotically, and filled their several quotas with commend- able promptness. Not so the fifteen Slave States. Even Delaware, the smallest and most northerly of Slave States, responded through its Governor by saying that :
"There is no organized militia in the State, and no law authorizing such organization." A reply that indicated indifference, if not worse.
Through its Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, Mis- souri, another Slave State, pronounced :
"The call illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary; its objects to be inhuman and diabolical, and would not be comphed with by Missouri."
Kentucky was a border Slave State and there senti- ment was divided, nevertheless, Governor Magoffin re- sponded to the President's call by sa}ang Kentucky "would furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of sub-
At a Farmhouse in 1861. 15
duing the South." Vain words ! As time went by thou- sands and thousands of brave Kentuckians volunteered for this very "wicked purpose," and many of these sealed their devotion to the Union of their fathers by finding a grave in the far South.
Bond County, 111., the place of my nativity, promptly enHsted two companies in response to the call of Richard Yates, our noble war Governor. As I was but seven- teen years of age, and at that time the one male member of the family, I did not volunteer, but instead passed"^ the spring and summer of 1861 peacefully following the plow.
At the same farmhouse in the early spring were five young men and boys, ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-five years, and certainly a jolly, light-hearted, merry company of young, vigorous, thoughtless human- ity. Two of the number, Charley and "Ted," were bright, clear-skinned, good-natured young Englishmen, with just enough brogue in their speech to make one listen more intently. Charley, the younger brother, had black eyes, played the viohn skillfully, was brim full of fun and was the life, wag and jolliest member of a jolly "bunch." Jack, a third member, was noted for good nature and dry wit.
Although we all followed the plow "from sun-up till sun-down," seldom were we too tired to assemble on the back porch of evenings after supper, crack jokes, sing merry songs and listen while Charley played on his violin such old-time pieces as "Buffalo Girls," "Fisher's Hornpipe," "Buy a Broom," "Arkansaw Traveler," etc. Sometimes on these occasions, with the two or three girls about the house, a dance would be improvised in the kitchen.
16 Muskets and Medicine.
As time went by each of these five young men joined the anny, and a brief summary of their subsequent his- tory may not be uninteresting as illustrative of war's fortunes.
Charley, the wag, wit and merriest one, was killed at Belmont, Mo., November 7, 1861, Grant's first battle, shot through the head with a musket ball. Jack enlisted in the fall of 1861, and about that time said to me, "Well, I guess it's all right, kase a feller'l never die till his time comes anyhow." Poor Jack, his time came at Atlanta in the late summer of 1864, when a bullet passed through his neck, killing him instantly.
A fourth member of the farmhouse group, whose name I do not now recall, in July, 1863, at Jackson, Miss., had his leg torn off near the body and died from shock and hemorrhage.
"Ted," brother to Charley, enlisted at the first call in 1861, and four years later was mustered out, much the worse for his experience, physically.
The fifth and last of the five went through three years at the front, and is yet alive. Three taken and two left ! Truly, war reaps a terrible han^est.
CHAPTER 11.
The Civil War Seen from a Quiet Neighborhood.
"But when the blast of war blows in our ears Then imitate the tiger, Stiffen the sinew^s, summon the blood."
— Shakespeare.
Not many weeks had the war been in progress when the "powers that be" came to realize that the Southerners were terribly in earnest, that putting down the RebeUion was no child's play, and that for its accomplishment there would be needed a large number of well trained soldiers and vast sums of money.
Congress convened on July 4, 1861, in extra session, and in his message to that body President Lincoln rec- ommended that four hundred thousand men be enrolled and that four hundred million dollars be appropriated for war purposes. In response Congress voted five hundred thousand men and five hundred million dollars.
But while the Washington Government thus came to have some appreciation of the magnitude of the uprising in the South, the people at large failed to do so till after the Battle of Bull Run. This battle, which at the time seemed so disastrous to the Union cause, occurred July 21, 1861. Ver}^ naturally the newspapers were filled with the details of this struggle, and a little later some of them referred to it as "Bully Run," a facetious method of speaking of the panic which seized the Union soldiers after the battle.
But Bull Run was really a blessing in disguise, for it roused the North to a full appreciation of what it had to
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18 Muskets and Medicine.
do in order to save the Union. This battle occurred almost precisely seven months after the secession of South Carolina, the event which first "fired the Soutliem heart" ; and during the whole of 1861 it is, perhaps, not too much to say that in all that pertains to preparedness, the South was fully that many mbnths in advance of the North.
In conversation with a Southern sympathizer, late in the summer of 1861, I remember urging in; excuse for a recent Union defeat that our forces were greatly out- numbered.
"Yes," he replied, "just as they always have been and are always likely to be in thd future."
During the first months of the Civil War the people of the West were greatly interested in the progress of events in Missouri. General Fremont had command of the Department of Missouri during most of the summer of 1861, and as he started in with considerable reputa- tion, the people naturally believed he would accomplish much and develop into one of the great Civil War lead- ers. But while it was not perhaps wholly Fremont's fault, yet he fell short of achieving what w^as expected.
August 10, 1861, was fought the Battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Mo., where our forces attacked and greatly demoralized the enemy, who outnumbered us three to one. But the Union cause that day sustained what, at the time, seemed an irreparable loss in the death of General Lyon, the Commander. After General Lyon's death the Federals fell back, first to Springfield and later to Rolla, Mo. General Sigel, upon whom the command devolved, gained great reputation for the masterly man- ner in which he brought his little army from where it was so greatly outnumbered, and in danger of capture.
General Lyons Death. 19
General Lyon's death was very much deplored all over the loyal North. In his person he seemed to combine qualities so much needed at that time, qualities that were clearly lacking in certain ones in high places. His energy, sagacity and promptness made him a great favorite in the West, where his deeds gave promise of a brilliant future, had his life been spared. He first came in the "lime-light" May 10, 1861, when, as Captain Lyon of the Regular Army, he promptly seized Camp Jackson at St. Louis, and thus early saved the contiguous countr}^ to the Union.
Emboldened by success at other points, secession in Missouri proposed to make its nest, so to speak, at Camp Jackson, within the corporate limits of St. Louis ; and in this nest, early in May, 1861, whole broods of Confed- erate soldiers w^ere going through the incubation process. But the Confederate Commandant, General Frost, wh^ possessed only the sagacity of a fledgHng, made a sort of May-day merr^^-making of drilling, and here came the city nabobs in their coaches, ladies in carriages, others in buggies, men on horseback and hundreds afoot.
One day a fat lady in a bugg}', unaccompanied, drove leisurely all about the camp apparently unconcerned, but from under "her" bonnet looked the eagle eyes of Cap- tain Nathaniel Lyon of the United States Army, who carefully took in the whole situation,
Shortly afterwards, a body of armed soldiers was marched out to Camp Jackson, halted in front of it, when their commander, Captain Lyon, demanded and promptly received the surrender of the Confederate camp with its twelve hundred embr}^o soldiers.
This bold and sagacious act caused great rejoicing throughout the West, but especially in such parts of
20 Muskets and Medicine.
Illinois as were tributary to St. Louis. The newspapers of the day were filled with accounts of the affair, and Captain Lyon at once came into prominence. But his career of glory was doomed to be short, as he fell pre- cisely three months later at Wilson's Creek.
Our little county, as elsewhere stated, furnished two companies of three months' men at the first call in April, 1861; these, before their time had fully expired,' came home on furlough, preparatory to entering the three years' service for which period they had re-enlisted. Those from our community came walking in from the railroad station one bright June morning, dressed in their fresh, new uniforms: Coats of dark or navy blue, with bright brass buttons, pants light blue, neat caps wdth long visors, and their blankets of gray woolen, neatly rolled and thrown gracefully over their shoulders. Thus seen, ''soldiering" looked especially inviting to me, a boy not yet eighteen.
During the summer of 1861 a man came along and hired out upon the farm where I was working. He stated that he was from near Springfield, Mo., where he had owned a well-stocked farm, but that the countr}^ being overrun by the contending armies ever3^thing had been "stripped off," and he was glad to get away. His family had gone to some relatives in Indiana, while he sought to earn a little money by hard work. He was the first Union refugee I had seen up to that time.
The Battle of Bull Run in the East, and Wilson's Creek in the West, w^ere the principal engagements dur- ing the summer of 1861. I remember anxiously watch- ing the papers during the summer and autumn of that year, instinctively hoping to read of the Confederates
Fall of Fort Donelson. 21
being overwhelmed by our forces. But my hopes were not gratified.
The winter of 1861-2 I spent in a remote and sparsely- settled section, seven miles from a postoffice, where papers a week old were not considered stale. Not till long after it w^as fought, January 19, 1862, Mill Spring, General Thomas's first battle, was I privileged to read an account of the whole matter. Here the Confederate forces were beaten and put to flight, General ZoUicoffer killed, their lines penetrated and broken, at Bowling Green.
Even in this early period every neighborhood had one or more representatives in the anny, and during the win- ter I remember servdng upon several occasions as amanu- ensis to some of my friends, who w^ere poor penmen, answ^ering letters from soldiers at the front.
Towards night, one dreary, foggy day in Februarv^; 1862, the boom of cannon was heard aw^ay off to the southwest. Next day it was learned that a great victory had been won. That Fort Donelson, on the Tennessee River, had fallen. Fifteen thousand Confederates were reported captured, with all their arms and accoutrements. The cannonading heard proved to be the firing of^a National salute at St. Louis, more than forty miles dis- tant. Meeting a man next day, who had seen the papers and read an account of the w^hole affair, I inquired the name of the Union Commander.
The answer was: "General Grant."
"Grant? Grant?" said I. "Never heard of him. Who is he? What's his rank? Where's he from?"
"Don't know just who he is," w-as the reply, "except that he is a Brigradier- General and is from Illinois."
22 Muskets and Medicine.
I remember feeling a shade of disappointment at the time that an entirely new and unknown man should all at once come into such prominence and, so to speak, eclipse men with familiar names.
Fort Donelson surrendered February 14, 1862, and it must have been the evening of February 17 that the salute was heard. It is unusual for cannonading to be heard forty miles and more distant, but the damp, heavy atmosphere of the time, together with the level prairie, over which the sound wave traversed, had much to do with the long distance reached.
In singular contrast to this experience was that at Perryville, October 8, 1862, when, in the afternoon, a severe and bloody battle was fought by McCook's Corps of the Army of the Ohio, two and one-half hiiles from the headquarters of the Commander, but he, notwith- standing, failed to hear the sound of the battle.
In an article on the Battle of Shiloh, General Buell expresses surprise that the Commander of the army — General Grant — should unwittingly permit the foe to approach ^^^th a large force, encamp over night within one and one-half miles of his lines and. next morning attack \yiith a large army ! Not stranger is it, than that an- other Commander should remain quietly at his headquar- ters for a whole afternoon in blissful ignorance of the fact that one wing of his army was engaged in perilous battle but two and one-half miles distant! But that the latter circumstance happened Buell himself testifies, and offers in explanation the peculiar configuration of the country and the prevalence of a strong wind from his headquarters toward the corps engaged. War, as well as peace, has its anomalies.
General McClellan. 23
In the autumn of 1861 the people began to be im- patient with what w^as deemed the needless inactivity of the Army of the Potomac under McClellan, and concern- ing him and that organization the phrase: "All quiet on the Potomac," first used as an expressive indication of no demonstration by either friend or foe in Virginia, came, as the period of inaction lengthened, to have a satirical meaning.
McClellan, soon after Bull Run, was called to the command of the Army of the Potomac, and for a time seemed very popular with the people, and was soon familiarly called "Little Mac," and a short time after, the Napoleon of the War. But as the winter drew near' and the Army of the Potomac made no demonstra- tion, many began to question McClellan's fitness for high command, and some even m.ade the remark that he was the "biggest man never to have done anything on record." His most excellent ser\'ice in Western Virginia in July, 1861, was for the time forgotten or ignored, and his great ability as an organizer was not yet understood.
In April, 1862, in the West, all eyes were concentrated upon the Army of the Tennessee at Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River. Here, on April 6, 1862, Grant came near being overwhelmed, and for a time passed under a shadow of public distrust as dark and fore- boding as the previous two month's — after the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson — sunshine of popular ap- proval and confidence had been warm and cheering.
The 6th of April, 1862, made memorable to me by the death of a relative, is remembered as a t}'pical April day — now a cloud, now a shower, now sunshine, a little wind, a little warm and a little mud, but pleasant withal and full of the promise of spring. Little did we of the
2'^ Muskets and Medicine.
North know when the sun went down that quiet Sabbath evening through what peril one of our great armies had passed.
In the same secluded, sparsely-settled section, seven miles from a postoffice, where I spent the winter of 1861-2, I also spent the spring and summer of 1862 fol- lowing the plow, contentedly farming and dreaming of the college life, which I hoped was near at hand.
About this time, too, I first saw a national bank note. - The man who had several five- and ten- dollar bills of this species said they were "legal-tenders." Their bright, crisp appearance and artistic workmanship were in strik- ing contrast with the State bank — "wildcat" — currency, up to that period, the only paper money in circulation. This State bank money was of such uncertain value that many of the old-fashioned, but sturdy people, refused to re- ceive it in payment of dues, and insisted upon having only gold and silver. Consequently paper money natur- ally held a lower place in the public esteem than hard money, the people's name for gold and silver coin.
The National currency soon banished from circulation the State currency. Gold and silver disappeared from circulation in 1862, and fractional paper money was issued by the Government of fifty, twent3^-five, ten, five and even three cents value.
In the region where I was the daily newspaper was almost never seen, and even a good weekly but seldom. However, the neighborhood was by no means deprived of news, as a citizen, whom we will call Jones, amply supplied the place of a local paper. This man Jones was of iniddle age and medium size, of rough-strong build, had coarse red hair, never wore whiskers, but seldom shaved oftener than once in a fortnight, hence his face
A Nezvspaper Substitute.
was usually covered with a porcupine-like grow^th of an uncertain yellowish-red hue, often covered wi\h tobacco juice, as w^as the front of his brown domestic shirt that fastened at the neck with a large horn button, but left a great gaping space of eight or ten inches below, dis- playing his hairy breast. He wore a pair of brow^n jean pants, held up by one, sometimes two, "galluses" made of striped bed-ticking, and in anything like mild weather had on neither coat nor vest. On his head was the remnant of a coarse wool hat, his pants invariably short, failed, when hq was sitting, to meet the tops of his blue woolen socks and the inter\^al thus left w^as uncovered by underwear; on his feet, summer and winter, were coarse brogan shoes, in size about number eleven. In the eyes of Jones any man who wore anything finer than Kentucky jeans was proud, and every woman stuck up, who of Sundays donned anything save a "sun" bonnet. Jones believed he was just as good as anybody, but fear- ing others would not think so, took occasion ever}' now and then to assert the fact.
He probably never missed a meal of victuals in his life on account of sickness, but when accosted with the usual "Howdy do, Jones," invariably answered, "only tolible." His family consisted of a heartv^ wife and some half-dozen healthy children, but he never would concede their healthy status, and when asked regarding tlieir health always answered with some qualified phrase as : "Turty peart considering," "all stirring when I left," "so's to be round," "all about now," "only tolible like," "all av'rige but the old woman, she's powerful weak," "jist middlin'," etc., etc.
But once seated in your house and having satisfactorily compromised the health of himself and family, Jones lost
26 Muskets and Medicine.
no further time, but at once be^n unloading his latest batch of war news.
"Hain't beered 'bout the big fight on the Tenisy/' I reckon? That Gin'rl tli2.t hop'd (helped) the g-unboats take tlnem air forts down thar, whar ihey ketched so many sojers — Donels'n and Henen-, b'lieve they call 'em. I forgit his name — O yes, Granit. ^^'ell, he's got ''whurp'd' (meaning whipped) mighty bad, him and his army — got his'n all cut up and lots of 'em tuck pris'ner.
"Some's sayin' they reckon he must 'a' been in licker to git 'whurp'd' that away. They fit t\vo whole days, and if it hadn't ben for them air gunboats helpin', him and his whole army ben tuck pris'ner, shore. They are sa3in' : Tea,rs like Grant's awful lucky gittin' hop'd from, g-un- boats'."
"The first time he fit a.t a place called Bell s'^imthin' (Belmont), they (the gunboats) got bum out, then they done most of the nghtin' at Hener}-, and I reckon bis of it at Donels'n and this last time they saved his bacon, shore. 'Pon my .soul, b'heve the South' s goin' to win, though."
Not long after Shiloh, Island No. 10, in the Mis- sissippi, with a goodly num.ber of prisoners, surrendered to General Pope. This, in the ^^'est, was at the time taken as a s^rt of onset to our failure at Pittsburg Land- ing, or Shiioh.
Early that spring I remember reading of the now world -renov,med er_gagement betv\^een the little National Monitor sjid the huge Confederate iron-clad Mer'-imac. This eng2.gement in Hampton Roads revolutionized r^val warfare, and forever did away with unarmored wooden vessels.
Some Nezv Terms.
The name Monitor, which was aftenA-ard used in a ■ generic sense and appHed to all vessels built after the same general pattern of the one which so successfully encountered the Merrima-c, at first sounded strangely, but by and by became familiar enough.
The war, among other things, brought into general use a whole brood of peculiar and unfamiliar words. The first word of this kind to attract attention was secession, corrupted by many into secesh. Coercion, as applied to compelling ihe return of seceded Sta.tes, was another new term. Cordraba-nd was first used by General Builer when referring to slaves who had come within his lines. This was an unusually hard word at first, but soon be- came familiar when whole clouds of contrabands (slaves) sought freedom under the protection of our armdes. Refugee was a term applied to such white people as favored the Union cause, fied from the South, and sought safety and protection within our lines. Copper- Jiead was a term used to designate such as openly opposed the war and yet had their homes in the North. But while one, who openly opposed the war, was called a copperhead, one who violently opposed it was called a Secesh.
After the battle of Pittsburg Landing an im-m.ense Union army, under General Halleck, concentrated in that vicinity for the advance on Corinth. Pope's forces had been ordered thither, and Buell's ^nd Grant's armdes were there already. Halleck divided his grand army of over one hundred thousand effective men into right and left wings, center and reser^'e, com^m^anded respectively by Pope, Buell, Thomas and McClernand. Poor Grant, under a cloud after Shiloh, was nominally second in command, but was really a sort of supemumerar}'.
28 Muskets and Medicine.
The attention of the whole country was concentrated upon this fine army as it slowly besieged Corinth and attempted to bag Genera^ Beauregard. But one night, May 30, 1862, he quietly evacuated, and either destroyed or carried away everything of value.
The whole story was well told at the time by a cut in Harper's Weekly, which represented in one picture a huge hand (Halleck's army) closed, all but the index- finger, which was reaching to seize a flea (Beauregard's army), at rest on a plane surface. Just opposite was another picture which represented the big index-finger in contact with the plane surface, but the flea (Beaure- gard's army) was in the air, having, true to its nature, jumped.
CHAPTER III.
"Six Hundred Thousand More." — Author Enlists.
"Form ! Form ! Form ! Rifllemen ! Ready, be ready to meet the storm ! Rifllemen ! Rifllemen ! Riflemen form !"
— Teknyson.
About the 1st of April, 1862, the Army of the Poto- mac, under General McClellan, began the Peninsular campaign, slowly approaching from Fortress Monroe towards Riclimond. A month was consumed in the Siege of Yorktown ; six weeks passed in the sickly swamps of the Chickahominy, after which McClellan changed his base to the James River, and then followed the Seven Days' Battles near Richmond, namely, Mechanicsville, June 26; Gaines' Mills, June 27 and 28; Savage's Sta- tion, June 29; Peach, Orchard, June 29; White Oak Swamp, June 30, and Malvern Hill, July 1. July 2 the Army of the Potomac retreated to Harrison's Landing, on the James River, and thus had been accomplished the "change of base." This costly and humiliating repulse of McClellan was a sore disappointment to the North, but knowing the Nation's power, the President issued a call in the last days of July for 300,000 volunteers, which, a little later, was increased to 600,000.
Like most others I had all along been greatly inter- ested in the war's progress, but fifteen month's continu- ance of the conflict had, in a degree, removed the keen edge of that interest, and I, all the while, consoled myself with the idea that there was no need for me to become
(29)
30 Muskets and Medicine.
identified with the conflict in any way personally. The previous winter I had been teaching and putting in leisure moments preparing for college. My studies I tried to prosecute, iiK way, while fanning during the spring and early summer of 1862, my zeal at times lead- ing me in hot days, while my horse was resting, to use the freshly tumed-up earth as a sort of make-shift board upon which, with a stick, I marked out for demonstra- tion certain propositions in geometry-.
From the foregoing it w411 be seen that my dreams were all of the Halls of Learning and not of the Tempk of Mars, not of fields of strife and blood. These per- sonal matters are mentioned because it is believed that many thousands of young men, up to this period, had aspirations like my owm and bore a similar relation to the war, and most of these enlisted and thousands of them .sacrificed their lives on their country's altar.
One day early in August, 1862, having followed the plow till noon, I came in from the field to dinner and found at the house a relative who had just arrived with the information that a war meeting was to be held the next day at Pocahontas, my home village, ten miles dis- tant, and that the day previous a war meeting had been held at Greenville, 111., our county seat, and at which many of my old friends and schoolmates had enlisted. Joining the army is not unlike measles, whooping- cough and even smallpox, for it's catching. Learning that A., B., C. and D. had volunteered, I henceforth saw "the light," and straightway resolved to enlist in my country's service, much as it would mar all my well-laid plans. With this intent uppermost in my mind I at- tended the war meeting at Pocahontas, August 9, 1862, which was held in the shade of a w^hite oak strove.
TJie /nthor Volunteers.
There was a good ai- ^nce and mucli earnes..iess manifested. The exercises consisted of martial music, singing of patriotic songs and several eloquent speeches. One of the speakers was a ruddy-faced, good-looking Englishman, whose earnestness and eloquent words made a lasting impression on my mind. He began by reading in a most impressive manner a poem, then just published and beginning:
"We are coming Father Abraham, six hundred thousand more, From Alleghany's rugged heights, from Mississippi's winding shore" —
These lines are quoted from memory and may be inac- curate, but it is believed they are substantially correct. When through reading, the speaker said :
"As most of 3^ou know, I am an Englishman; not a drop save English blood courses in my veins, and near to my heart is the memory of dear, merry old England. Her green, peaceful fields, her happy homes, her thrifty sons, her broad-chested, manly men; and her rosy- cheeked, healthy women; wives, sisters, mothers, sweet- hearts can never, never be forgotten. But much as I love old England, and proud as I am of the power and fair name of my native land, I am, today, an American citizen, and as such, should the English Government see fit to intervene and take up arms in favor of the South, I will shoulder my musket and fight against her as long as there is breath in my body."
The impassioned address of the eloquent Englishman was intently listened to and heartily cheered by the audi- ence.
Amid these surroundings and under these patriotic influences I gave my name to an enrolling officer, and
32 Muskets and Medicine.
for three years thereafter saw service in the Union Army — service that, though humble, did not end till the last enemy had surrendered and our National Flag was permitted to float in peace over every foot of the late eleven Seceded States — eleven Seceded States that com- prised the Southern Confederacy, and whose people had desperately striven to take eleven Stars from the Flag of our common Country, and with them form the "Stars and Bars," the emblem of a proposed new government, whose chief corner-stone was avowed to be human slavery, but
"Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceed- ing small, Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness He grinds all."
At this period the war had been in progress a little less than sixteen months, and regarding the propriety and justness of the conflict, there were three classes, and of these the first included all members of the Republican Party who had elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- dency, and who, to a man, favored a vigorous prosecu- tion of tlie war.
A second class was vacillating, now favoring the war and now hesitating, if not, indeed, objecting to its fur- ther prosecution.
A third class opposed President Lincoln in every move he made, and became so bitter and so obnoxious that they were not inaptly called ''Copperheads," the name of a certain snake whose bite was especially poisonous, and whose method of attack was cowardly and vicious.
As time went by, the party favoring a vigorous prose- cution of the war received a very large accession from
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A Clerical Patriot. 33
certain patriotic men who came to be known as "War- Democrats," a hyphenated term that was especially pap- ular with Union men in the early sixties.
As to the final outcome, a few people seemed, from the beginning, to have implicit faith in ultim.ate triumph, but the great majority were submerged in a sea of doubt and perplexity.
On July 4, 1861, I attended a Fourth of July celebra- tion .at Greenville, our county seat, and listened to a most eloquent and patriotic address from a prominent clerg}mian. Very naturally the them-e of the spea. * was the war, upon which the country was just entering, '^e handled his subject in a masterly manner, and I shall never forget his closing words: '"'Crowned with a halo of glorv', the Nation reunited will finally come out of this fiery ordeal, grander, nobler, stronger than ever before."
These words were, so to speak, burned into m.y memory, for they were wonderfully impressive and seemed to carry with them great w^eight and an inde- finable sense of dignity and foreknowledge. Yet, in those trvdng days when ever>^ one was at sea, and clarity of \new was vouchsafed to few, if any, the prophetic words of the reverend speaker seemed all but impossible of fulfillment. However, those were stirring times, and men's minds underwent prompt and radical changes.
The patriotic and manly course of many leading Democrats, notably Senator Douglas, in supporting the Union, and standing by President Lincoln in his efforts to preserve the integrity of the National Government, had much to do in making staunch Unionists of many who, up to that time, had openly opposed the course of
34 Muskets and Medicine.
the Administrationi at Washington, or hesitated in giving it their allegiance.
The eloquent speaker referred to above was Reverend Thomas W. Hynes, of Greenville, III, who was born in Kentucky and lived there till he was fifteen years of age, when he came North. He was a forceful speaker, with a rich, sonorous voice, and a suave, dignified gentleman, who, in his bearing and every-day life, represented the highest type of the true Christian gentleman.
Having been born and reared in a slave-environment he knew the wrongs and evils of the slave system, and when, in the fifties, the attempt was made to contaminate the free prairies of Kansas with siave labor. Reverend Mr. Hynes was a modest, but integral part of the great upheaval north of the Ohio River that finally engulfed the threatening movement on the part of the ultra South- em leaders.
His three sons were in the Union Army, and one of them fell at Vicksburg, where he now fills a soldier's honored grave.
Among those who left their homes in the South on account of their dislike to slavery and came to the west- em wilderness in Illinois, while it was yet a territory, was my grandfather, Charles Johnson, who raised a large family, and when the Civil War came on not one of his descendants, who was of suitable age and physically fit, failed to enlist, and one of them gave up his life at Chickamauga.
But what was true of these two patriots was true of thousands and thousands of Southern-bom men in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, among whom Abraham Lin- coln was the great prototype, and who, when the terrible crisis came in the early sixties, stood like a wall of
Some Embryo Soldiers. 35
adamant for the integrity of the Federal Government. Indeed, the part borne by these stalwart Unionists of Soutliern birth and descent was so weighty that it really turned the scales and, in the final reckoning, made the preservation of the Union possible. What a theme for a volume would the work of these men afford ! These stalwarts loved the sunny Southland, but they loved the Union more. Among the last-named were Generals Scott, Thomas, Logan, Hurlburt, Commodore Farragut and scores of other great Civil War leaders.
Under Lincoln's call for 600,000 volunteers in July a. 1 August, 1862, two full companies were enlisted in my little native County of Band, which came to be noted for its patriotism. During the month of August and early days of September these volunteers rendezvoused at Greenville, our County Seat, a quiet old-time village of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and twenty miles distant from the nearest railway station. Here we were billeted, or quartered, at the two village taverns.
Very many of the two hundred young men composing these two companies were fine, stalwart fellows, whose bronzed faces showed the healthy traces of the sun's rays under which they had followed the plow during the cul- tivating season, then just over; though when I enlisted I let go the handles of the plow and left it sticking in the furrow. Most of us were under twenty-five years of age — a great many, indeed, under twenty — and a jolly, rollicking bunch we were, but, almost to a man, all were staunch, of sterling worth, and were members of the best families in the county. One night a number of us went out in the country two or three miles, if I remember cor- rectly, in quest of watermelons, but whether or not we found them, I do not now recall, but one experience of
36 Muskets and Medicine.
that summer night I shall never forget, We took with us a supply of cigars for those who were already smokers, and those who were not yet smokers, alike. Those of us who had not before learned to smoke had become impressed with the idea that we never could become real, true soldiers till we added this last to our list of accomplishments. Once before I had tried to smoke, but my efforts ended in a severe attack of vomit- ing. This night, however, notwithstanding my former failure, I resolved to make one more heroic effort to acquire the smoking habit, but, much to my dismay and- chagrin, soon after inhaling the smoke of about half a cigar I was seized with a violent attack of sick stomach and vomiting which made me so weak that I was hardly able to get back to our stopping place. This apparent failure of fifty-odd years ago I have long since come to regard as one of the decidedly fortunate occurrences of my life, for it kept me from acquiring a costly and ques- tionable habit.
At the village taverns, beds for all could, of course, not be had, consequently we slept on lounges, benches, carpets, bare floors; indeed, on almost any smooth sur- face that was under shelter. It goes without saying that we all had fine appetities, the demands of which severely taxed the tavern larders.
So passed the remainder of August and the early days of September, when one day an order came for us to rendezvous at Belleville, 111., a small city, forty miles away.
One moonless night in August, a little time before we left Greenville, our company was drawn up in front of the Court House to receive a beautiful flag, a present from the women whose husbands, brothers, sons and
A Flao- is Given Us.
sweethearts were soon to see sen-ice at the front. Two or three tallow candles furnished a flickering uncertain light, under whose dim rays a Miss Smith, a beautiful young woman, mounted the Court House steps, and in a few well chosen words, spoken in a sweet voice, pre- sented the flag. John B. Reid, then the Captain of the company in which I had enlisted, responded briefly and appropriately.
The flag was made of fine silk and most beautiful were its seven stripes of red, six of snowy white and delicate field of blue, studded -vith thirty-four im.maculate stars, representing as many States, although eleven of these were making war upon this flag and all k '^od for.
After the fair young maiden had spoken her few words and the captain had responded, the flag w-as un- furled three rousing cheers were given, and ever}' man silently resolved, if need be, to give his life for the pre- servation of this noble emblem.
This flag we took with us when we went to the enemy's countn.^, but unfortunately, during our various marches and transfers from one to another locality, it was misplaced, and never afterward found. Thus it came about that not one of us was given opportunity to "die for its preservation.''
In this same month of August, 1862, another beautiful Bond County flag, the handiwork of the wives, sisters, mothers and sweethearts of the newly-enlisted men, was made at Pocahontas, my native village, and by one of its fair maidens. Miss Sarah Green, presented to an organi- zation that later became Company E, 130th Illinois Infantry Volunteers. In due time this Pocahontas flag was carried to the enemy's country, and by his bullets its folds were more than once pierced during the Siege of
38 Muskets and Medicine.
Vicksburg. The war over, the flag was returned to the people from whence it came, and is today a highly cher- ished relic in the care of J, W. Miles, a Civil War veteran of Pocahontas.
Most certainly this shot-pierced, home-made flag, old and tattered by more than a half century's history, is well and unquestionably entitled to be called "Old Glory."
The Pocahontas flag is only one of many, many thou- sands, that were given to outgoing volunteers by patriotic women whose prayers and hopes followed their loved " ones wheresoever duty called them. But, sad to say, the great majority of the flags of this class are from one cause or another, no longer in existence; hence, the pos- sessors of the Pocahontas "Old Glory" have reason to congratulate themselves over their exceptional good for- tune.
To the non-military reader it may be well to say that the State furnished every newly-organized regiment a flag which became its recognized standard. In review, on parade, on all public occasions and in battle, this flag was unfurled, and borne at the head of the regiment by the color-bearer. In the event the flag was lost or de- stroyed, the State, as promptly as possible, furnished! another one.
Finally, when the term of service ended and the regi- ment was mustered out, its flag reverted to the State, and was supposed to be ever after cared for.
Thus it will be seen that regimental flags are in a class to themselves, and, as such, cannot be claimed by individ- uals nor by communities.
CHAPTER IV.
From Corn Field to Camp.
"The fields are ravished of th' industrious swains."
—Pope.
In the latter part of August, 1862, while men all over the North were, in thousands, cheerfully responding to President Lincoln's latest and largest' call for troops, General Pope was seriously defeated in Northern Vir- ginia, and with his a^rmy had fallen bac^' on the defenses of Washington.
A little later, about the middle of September, these reverses were, in part, retrieved by the same troops under McClellan at South Mountain and Antietam. All this occurred while the two companies from Bond County were yet in citizens' dress and eating the food of civil life. Already, however, each volunteer had taken an oath before a justice of the peace to support the Con- stitution and laws of the United States.
The round of routine at Greenville, eating, sleeping, drilling, etc. — the county seat of little Bond — was va^ried one evening by a social gathering in the audience room of the Court House, at which all the soldiers and miany citizens and ladies were present. Some good vocal music was rendered, and one soloist. Miss Lucy White, daughter of President White, of Almira College, sang with much effect a selection, then just published, in which are the words :
'■'Brave boys are they, gone at their country's call, And yet, and yet, we cannot forget that manv brave boys must fall."
(39)
40 Muskets and Medicine.
If I remember correctly, these two lines were a sort of refrain at the end of each verse, and the words, "must fall," sounded to me especially doleful — so doleful that I could not enter into the cheery character that it was intended the gathering should assume, and, at its close, the words, "must fall," rang in my ears till I felt almost sure I was destined to die on some Southern battlefield. However, next morning's sunshine dissipated all my gloomy forebodings and my boyish vigor and innate op- timism caused me to take a cheerful view of the future — a view that time has justified, for, since that social gath- ering in the Court House, fifty-four long years have run- their course, and of those assembled on that August night, I am one of the few left to tell the story.
Miss White's solo, doleful 'as it seemed, was not with- out its good effect, for even the most thoughtless among us was made to think seriously of the new and danger- ous duties upon which we were about to enter.
As elsewhere noted, an order had been received from the State Capital at Springfield, directing the two Bond County companies to rendezvous at Belleville, III, about forty miles away and not far from St. Louis,
As the time for departure drew near, every man visited his home, made his final arrangements, said farew^ell to his friends, and then joined his comrades at Greenville.
But sad and tearful was this farewell, as father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or sweetheart, took the parting one by the hand, none knowing how soon he would fall in the frightful death-harvest a great devas- tating war was tYtry hour reaping.
At the appointed time friends, neighbors and relatives came with farm wagons and, early one beautiful Septem-
Pocalu.iitas Flag; Real "Old Glory.'
First Home-leaving. ^1
ber morning, the vehicles were loaded with hearty speci- mens of young manhood, all ideal "cannon-food," and the journey over a dusty road to the nearest -ailway sta- tion, twenty miles away at Carlyle, was begun.
Three or four miles on the road was a hill where we, for some cause, halted for a time. From here I remem- ber taking a look at the Court House, about which we had been drilling for several weeks, and whose friendly roof had sheltered us from rain and sun alike, and as its familiar outline loomed up in the morning's sun I wondered if I should ever again look upon it.
About noon we reached Carlyle, on what was then known as the Ohio 8z Mississippi Railroad, now the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, and soon a west-bound train came in and we all went aboard. And will the reader believe it, to many of us this experience was absolutely new, for I, in common with most of m^y comrades, had never before be. inside a railway coach ! To satisfy any reader who i. y be in a wondering mood, let it be •said that a half ct ,tury ago railways were ver}' much fewer, and railway travel vastly less, than now.
After going west on the train for about twenty-five miles we got off, detrained as we say today, at O'Fallon and marched in a southwesterly direction till we came to Belleville, seven miles distant. The afternoon was hot, the roads dusty, and I remember suffering much dis- comfort from a pair of tight-fitting shoes I had bought the day previous. Before we reached Belleville my dis- comfort amounted to almost torture, and for this reason I look back upon this initial march of only seven miles as one of the hardest and most uncomfortable I was called upon to make during my whole three years' service.
42 Muskets and Medicine.
Arrived at Belleville, we were directed to the Fair Grounds where, under the board roofs of horse and cat- tle stalls, we found quarters. An abundance of clean, bright straw had been provided, upon which the blankets and quilts were spread, which last we had t rought from our homes, and thus we arranged for our first night's sleep in the new career before Us. The grounds were inclosed with a high, tight fence, and within were groves of shade trees and green, thrifty grass. The September weather was delightful, and the novelty of the new situa- - tion and way of living was most enjoyable.
However, there was one drawback; meals were taken at the several boarding houses in the city, and as these were substantially all run by Germans, Belleville being largely populated with people of that nationality, the taste and fumes of garlic seemed to permeate every arti- cle of food on the table. It was, of course, in all the meats, in many of the vegetables; but every man would have taken oath that it was in the bread and butter, if indeed, not in the coffee and sugar as well.
Strange as it may seem to the more advanced sani- tarians of today, we all suffered from severe colds not long after we began sleeping out, and the exposure in- curred in this w^ay was assigned as the cause.
At the end of about ten days we were ordered to Camp Butler, near Springfield. We boarded a train for St. Louis, and arriving there, went by steamboat to Alton, 111., and here, sometime after nightfall, we climbed on coal cars, entrained, and found seats on boards which were put across from side to side. We found the ride anything but pleasant, those sitting near the outer edge seemed in constant danger of falling overboard, and the
We Arrive at Camp Butler. 43
smoke, cinders and sparks were tormenting in the ex- treme.
Some time in the "wee-small" hours we arrived at Springfield and got off, detrained, at the Alton & Chi- cago Railway station. Meantime, a drizzling rain began to fall, and the men found shelter as best they could. With a companion I found this in the open vestibule of a church a little south of the station. Next moaning we got breakfast at one of the cheaper hotels, and this was destined to be one of our very last meals eaten from dishes placed on a white tablecloth.
During the forenoon several of us visited the home of President Lincoln and picked some flowers from the front yard and sent them home in letters.
Near noon time we boarded a train on the Wabash Railway for Camp Butler, seven miles east of Spring- field. On this train was Major General John C. Fre- mont, in full uniform, and we all took a good look at him, as he was the first officer of high rank we had seen. He was a man of medium stature, and wore rather light sandy whiskers. This last was a surprise to me, for when he was candidate for President in 1856 he was represented as heavily whiskered, so heavily, indeed, that he won tl sobriquet of "Wooly Horse."
Arrive at Camp Butler we detrained and passed through gate near the railway, guarded by a uni- formed soldier with a gun in his hands, and entered an enclosure of about forty acres, surrounded by a high, tight board fence. Along two sides of this enclosure were rows of long, narrow buildings, which were knov.Ti as barracks. At one end was the office of the Post Com- mandant, and nearby, the Commissar}^ and Quarterma'S- ter's Department. At the other end was the Hospital,
44 Muskets and Medicine.
Guard-House, Sutler's Store, etc. In the center was a large open space, used as a drill-ground. In the middle of the rear end, as at the front, was a large gate for teamis to pass through, and beside it a smaller one, for the egress and ingress of the men ; both were guarded by an armed soldier, and no one could go out without a pass signed by the Post Commandant.
A company was assigned to each of the long, narrow buildings, which we soon learned to familiarly call bar- racks. This had at one end a kitchen and store-rooms and at the other end two or three small apartments for the officers. Through the center of the main room ran a long table made of rough boards, and from which all ate. At the sides of this main room were box-like struc- tures, open in front, having tiers of boards upon which two men slept side by side. These we called bunks. Thus it was that our long, narrow barracks were not unlike a sleeping-car and dining-car combined. The barracks were made of rough boards put on "up-and- down," with no ceiling overhead save the shingle roof, and windows and doors were few, purposely, to save space.
Here began the crude, coarse fare of soldier life. Ra- tions in abundance and of essential good quality were supplied, but their preparation lacked the skilled, delicate hand of woman ; but of this more hereafter.
Not long after reaching Camp Butler I was attacked with ague, and for this the Post Surgeon very properly prescribed quinine. The hospital steward gave me six powders of that drug, put up in as many papers, and, as the bitter taste of quinine was especially repugnant to me, I cast about for some means to overcome this, and in the end could think of no better plan than the one I
Not Appendicitis. 45
had seen my mother put in use. In seeking to carry this out I called on the Sutler and paid him five cents for an especialTy-^-mellow apple, and some of the scrapings of this I placed in the bottom of an iron spoon which I bor- rowed from one of the cooks, thus forming layer No. 1. On this I put the contents of one paper, forming layer No. 2, tlien over all I put some more apple scraping, forming layer No. 3. So far all went well, but ^unfor- tunately all went lurong when I attempted to swallow^ the bolus ; for I got the upper layer of apple and about two- thirds of the quinine and all its horrid taste, as this was, no doubt, added to by the acid in the apple. Just how I managed to take the remainder of the powders I do not now recall, but, in any event, I made a prompt recovery from my ag-je.
Some weeks after this I was attacked with a terrible pain in the bowels, and, as it was in the middle of the night, one of my comirades went for the Post Surgeon, who prescribed paregoric, which nnally brought relief after several doses' had been taken. Unfortunately for my more speedy relief, the hypodenmic syringe had not yet come in use ; but fortunately, perhaps, for my permanent peace .nd comfort, appendicitis had not yet taken its place ii :he category of distinct disease entities, and consequently the operation of appendectomy had not yet been devised. Had there been recognized such a dis- ease as appendicitis, or had there been such an operation as appendectomy, the outcome might have been altogether different. I was a vigorous youth, suitering with agoniz- ing pain in the classic region of McBurney's Point. My medical adviser w^as recently out of school, and w^as pos- sessed of an aggressive make-up. Had it been p>ossible to project the situation a generation into the future, this
46 Muskets and Medicine.
stor}^ might have had a different ending, and I might not be here to tell it ; or I might be wearing a certain cross- abdomen slash, so to speak, familiar to modern surgeons. But as things were, in that autumn day in 1862, my case was diagnosed colic, or, in plain English, "belly- ache," an old-time, old-fashioned, honest disease that appendectomists have nearly, or quite, crowded out of the category of human ailments.
Doubtless, my trouble was due to an attack of acute indigestion, in turn due to too many amateur cooks (among whom I had been one) in our barrack kitchen.
As said before, we received an abundance of good rations, but we did not know how to cook them. Each day two men were detailed from the company to do duty in the kitchen. These, the first day, served as, assistants to two other men who but the day previous were them- selves assistants, and with the ripe experience gained in one day's apprenticeship, were now full-fledged cooks, and capable of instructing the uninitiated.
Little wonder is it that, with these constant changes in the kitchen, the food was at nearly all times ill pre- pared, and chance too often an important factor in the results obtained. For illustration, meat which was placed in the oven to roast, from the presence of too much fat turned out a fry, and beef put in the kettle to boil, from the absence of w^ater at a critical stage, would be baked instead, if indeed it w^as not hopelessly burned.
Potatoes were almost never properly cooked, even when apparently well done, a raw core would frequently be found in the center. Coftee was, at times, only a little stronger than water, at others it was Hke lye.
But rice, white beans and dried apples gave the ama- teur cooks the most trouble. In cooking these the novice
Amateur Cooking. 47
would invariably fill the camp kettle, a large sheet-iron vessel, holding two or more gallons, with one of these articles, and then pour inj water and set it over the fire. In a little time the beans or dried apples would begin to swell and run over the sides of the vessel ; meantime, the new cook would dip out the contents and put them in another vessel ; the swelling process continued, the dip- ping proceeded, till a second vessel was as full as the first, and there seemed to be enough for two or three companies instead of only one.
Good cook stoves and serviceable utensils were fur- nished by the Government, in addition to rations in abundance and of exceptional quality. The lame factor was in the food's preparation. Had it been possible for the Government to have supplied newly-enlisted com- panies with good cooks till others could have been trained, an untold amount of sickness would have been prevented, and many graves would have remained un- filled, not to speak of the many thousands who were dis- charged from the service by reason of ailments due to ill-prepared food.
CHAPTER V.
From Camp to The Enemy's Country.
"The flags of war like storm-birds fly, The charging trumpets blow; Yet rolls no thunder in the sky, No earthquake strikes below."
— Whittier.
As most of us were from the farms where we had been used to absolute freedom, the confinement imposed on us at Camp Butler soon became very monotonous and irksome. Indeed, it seemed little short of being confined in prison. To reheve the monotony we occasionally secured a pass from the Post Commandant and visited the world outside the enclosure, Once or twice we went to Springfield, at other times we spent some hours in the nearby woods, and at others w^e roamed over and through the fields of growing corn.
In the autumn of 1862 a great many newly-enlisted men were sent to Camp Butler for drill and organiza- tion; and these came in squads, companies and even regiments, always, however, unarmed, undrilled and not uniformed. In these men a few days' time worked a wonderful transformation. One regiment in particular I recall as presenting the most motley appearance imagin- able. Brown jeans w^as the prevailing dress, but every conceivable cut of coat and st)de of hat could be seen, and all, from colonel dovni, w^ere slouchy in attire, and awkward and ungainly in manner and appearance. A few weeks later the same body of men marched out of Camp Butler to take the cars on the V^^abash Railway at (48)
Life in the Barracks. 49
the front gate of the enclosure bound for the front and the firing-line; but, what a change! Every man was dressed in a new well-fitting uniform, had on his shoulder a bright new musket that glistened in the sunlight, and moved with firm, elastic step. The whole regiment marched with machine-like precision, and kept step with the r}lhmic strains of the band at its head.
In front of the Post Commandant's headquarters at Camp Butler was a flagpole, upon which early each m.orning was run up the Stars and Stripes, that were taken down again when night approached. Here, also, was a cannon that was fired every night at sunset and every morning at sunrise.
To keep the men from climbing over the fence a chain of guards was posted next to it all around. These were armed with old anny muskets of the Harper's Ferry pattern, that were utterly harmless, all being in some way defective. But armed with one of these, given tlie ■countersign and put on his "beat," perhaps, betv^^een a hickory tree and a white oak stump, the new soldier felt all the dignity of his position by day and the full weight of his responsibilities at night. At this period words from the Eastern army were most in^ favor for counter- sign, such as "Burnside," "Kearney," 'Tlooker," "Chick- ahominy," "Potomac," "Rappaliannock," etc.
After night the guard allowed no one to approach., without challenge, when, if the party purported to be a friend, he was required to whisper the countersign over the musket's length with bayonet attached.
Before regimental organization had been perfected I, with two comrades, procured a furlough to visit home for a few days,. We arrived by rail within twenty miles of our destination at 9 p.m. Time was limited, so it was
4
50 Muskets and Medicine.
resolved to foot it home that very night. After walking about five hours, the home of one of the party in the country was reached, and to save time and get to sleep as soon as possible, it was decided to slip in the house quietly and go to bed at once. Accordingly, guided by the comrade w^hose family occupied the house, all were soon disposed of, and being exceedingly weary, quickly went to sleep. I occupied the front of one bed and one of my comrades the back. All slept late, and at the breakfast table the next morning the lady of the house, a matronly woman, said to me:
"Didn't know I kissed you awhile ago, did you? Well," she continued, "I went into the spare room and first thing I saw w'as soldier's clothes, and on the pillow I saw a face which I thought w^as my Fielding's, and you better believe I gave it one good kiss. But I don't care, it was a soldier, any way!"
Blessed be the memory of her patriotic heart ; before the war ended, four of her sons lost their lives in their country's service. Not many sacrificed so much; aye, few gave so much to sustain the Nation's life, even in those troublous times, when sacrifice and patriotic gifts w^ere so common. After a few days spent most pleas- antly at home I returned to my company at Camp Butler. Newly-formed regiments of men were outside, and all about the enclosure at Camp Butler, encamped in tents. After staying in the barracks about two months I re- member being detailed for guard duty one beautiful Sabbath day. Guard duty necessitated a soldier's absence from his quarters for twenty-four hours, though he would actually be on his beat with musket in hand "but one-third of the time, two hours out of every six. TV time referred to, my two hours for duty, came just be-
A Teuton Drill-master. 51
fore daylight Monday morning. Looking through the fence about sunrise, where a regiment was encamped just outside, several groups were seen eating breakfast, and these were not composed wholly of men, but were made up of women, girls and children as well. Looking closer, it was seen that they were eating fried chicken, turkey, cake, pie, freshly-baked bread and good butter, biscuit and doughnuts. By this time the man on the next beat had joined me, and the effect the scene had upon the two soldiers within the enclosure can never be appre- ciated by the reader who has not had a similar experi- ence. The wives, sisters and children of these more for- tunate soldiers had evidently come to spend a season with their friends, and had brought such eatables as they knew would be appreciated, for the time had thus liter- ally transferred home-life to camp.
Late in October, ten companies, including the one to which I belonged, were mustered into the United States service as the 130th Illinois Infantry Volunteers. The afternoon was cold and raw, and the ceremony was not enjoyed. Next morning was bright and warm, and the newly-formed regiment was formed in line, when the Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major each made a short speech.
The new organization was at once put under a Dutch drillmaster, a short, little fellow, with a red face, sandy moustache and goatee. He wore a cap, a blue blouse and a sword that dragged the lower end of its scabbard on the ground. He gave his commands in quick, ner^'ous, broken English : "Tenyan, 'Pitalyan ! Fa'rd I\Iarch ! By Goompanies, Right 'Veel!" (Attention Battalion! For- ward March! By Companies, Right Wheel!) When the evolutions of the green regiment were faulty, it was
52 Muskets and Medicine.
amusing to hear the scolding in broken EngHsh from the drillmaster.
Pretty soon the regiment received its arms, Austrian rifled-muskets ; these, with cartridge boxes containing the ammunition, canteens in which to carr}^ water, haver- sacks (pouches made of hea^^ cotton goods for rations), knapsacks and blankets, fully equipped the command. Furthermore, each man received his uniform of regula- tion blue. Not long after the regiment became fully equipped orders came for it to report at Memphis, Tenn. "
One cold rainy evening the cars were taken on the Wabash Railway at our front gate, and after a cheerless ride, St. Louis was reached, where transportation down the river was procured on the steamboat General Robert Allen, the meanest old hulk afloat.
The trip was exceedingly tedious, water in the river was at a low stage, and the old boat frequently ran aground, but with the help of spars put upon either side the bow, and hoisting apparatus, always managed to again get underway.
One evening the boat tied up on the Arkansas shore; it being a section said to^ be infested by bands of armed rebels, night navigation was deemed perilous. The regi- ment was marched ashore, where nothing was found save a rude log structure, said to have been used before the war as a store.
The region was heavily timbered, with also a dense growth of underbrush, but much of it had a strange appearance, nearly everything being yet in leaf. Being" in the enemy's countr}^, a strong picket-guard was thrown out. The writer's company, with another, was detailed on this duty. The men were marched out the distance of a mile from the regiment, broken up in squads of
A Lono- Whistle.
o
four, and wilH freshly loaded guns, awaited any cause for alaTm. There was no disturbance, but being in the enemy's country was an entirely new experience, and though there may not have been an armed Confederate within fifty miles, it is safe to say that in the whole regi- ment but few eyes dosed that night in sleep.
Six months later, so inured had most of us become to war's alarms, that sweet and refreshing sleep was often taken directly under fire. The next day was Sunday, and about noon the old boat was again boarded and the jour- ney resumed.
A m^an belonging to the regiment died not long after leaving St. Louis ; the carpenter of the boat mxade a pine coffin in which the body was placed and taken to Mem.- phis. At this period a death in the commxand made some- thing of a sensation, but all were soon to become xtry familiar with this ''King of Terrors."
As the journey down the river continued, chimneys standing alone and cheerless, the houses having been burned, became familiar objects.
The lights from Memphis came in sight one evening, and the old boat began to whistle, but from some de- rangement in the "shut off" the noise could not be stopped; consequently, after the landing was m^ade and the boat tied up the whistle blew as long as the supply of steam in the boilers lasted. For a go-od while the night was miade hideous, and the ears of all tortured by the screeching whistle of the old boat, but this was a iit ending to the tedious and dangerous trip on the crazy old craft. The Quartermaster of the regiment, however, became m^uch the wiser from this experience, and never again had such transportation put upon him.
CHAPTER VI.
In and About Memphis During The Winter OF 1862-3.
"Before the battle joins afar The field yet glitters with the pomp of war."
— Dryden.
Fort Pillow, in the Mississippi, was evacuated June 4, 1862, after which the National fleet dropped down the river, and at early dawn June 6, under Commodore Davis, attacked the Confederate flotilla lying in, front of Memphis, Tenn.
The result was a complete Union victory. Of the eight vessels composing the Confederate fleet, three were destroyed, four captured, and only one, the Van Dorn, es.caped. During the engagement the bluff at Memphis v^as lined with spectators. At 11 a.m. the city sur- rendered, and was taken possession of by two infantry regiments accompanying the National fleet. Six months after this event the regiment to which I belonged arrived at the Memphis steamboat landing after night, as already detailed.
Next day our regiment went ashore and marched through the streets that in places were vtry muddy from recent rain-fall. Now and then a house was passed, from which welcome was extended by a waving handkerchief in the hands of a woman. Most of the female sex, how- ever, seemed ready to extend anything but a welcome to the "hordes from the North."
Camp was formed on the outskirts of the city in a beautiful beech grove that was in every way pleasantly (54)
A ''Turn-out:'
located. Here tents were put up, huts built by some, and about two weeks of beautiful November weather .spent most pleasantly. A line of guards encircled the camp at night to break the men in and enforce discipline as much as anything, perhaps. On this duty one of the men accidentally discharged his piece and the bullet passed through his foot. This was the first gunshot wound in the history' of the regiment,
Upon leaving the barracks at Camp Butler each com-~ pany broke up into messes, composed of from eight to fifteen men, who drew their rations in common and did their cooking together.
Nearly every -day our regiment went out on dress- parade, a term that, to the non-military reader, needs explanation. To participate in this, each man, before falling in ranks, was required to have his uniform in good order, his accoutrements in neat trim, his g^un and metallic appendages bright, then our regiment in line marched to some convenient level, open space, and went through the manual of arms, and, so to speak, displayed itself to the very best advantage.
One day our regiment selected for its place of parade an open space near a public highway, parallel with and facing which, it was drawn up. Some militar}' exercises had just been gone through and the men were standing easily at parade-rest^ when a turn-oiU passed along the road within a few feet of them that was new to North- ern eyes, but afterward frequently seen in the South dur- ing war times.
An old dilapidated family carriage that looked ^'as though it might have seen sendee since the Revolution- ary period, drawn by a large, dark-colored, raw-boned horse, only a skeleton in fact, and a little, old, mouse-
56 Muskets and Medicine.
colored donkey ; upon these were shreds of old harness, attached to which were some shabby old relics of silver mounting. Mounted on the box, with rope lines in his hands, was an old gray-haired darky, who sat upright and dignified, an old and very high plug hat on his head, and his person attired in the antiquated remains of a coach- man's livery. Within the carriage was a man and woman. The whole outfit was so ridiculous to Northern eyes that a hearty laugh went along the line, followed by a shout that was participated in by a thousand voices. -
At this period but few negroes lived in rural sections of the North, and most of these had comparatively reg- ular features, but it was soon observed that very many of their brethren of the South had receding foreheads, immense mouths, exceedingly thick lips, and fiat, shape- less noses.
After remaining about two weeks in camp, orders came one day to occupy Fort Pickering, just below the city. Like nearly all localities for any time occupied by troops, unless extraordinary precautions are taken, this post was filthy and repulsive in the extreme. Meantime snow fell, cold weather came on, and some most unpleasant days were passed, and, to make matters worse, the health of many began to fail.
Our mess numbering about eight persons, occupied a Sibley tent not far from the river bank. A Sibley tent is round at the base, having in its middle a center pole, toward which the canvas slopes from every direction, forming a perfect cone. The location of this tent on the high bluff next the river gave the wind full sweep, and the swa}nng of the canvas and flapping of the ropes was anything but pleasant, especially at night.
Merry But on a Serious Errand. 57
Fort Pickering was at this period surrounded by earth- works with cannon all along at proper inter\^als. At the date of occupancy the works were constantly being strengthened by the use of the spade and shovel. Most of this work was done by negroes, who were fed and paid by the Government.
After a time came an order for our regiment to do patrol duty in the city. This necessitated the breaking up of the regiment into squads, who, for the time, found quarters and did duty in various parts of the city. The company to which I belonged found quarters in a large brick block^ not far from the river. In this building were holes made by cannon shot, thrown during the naval engagement the 6th of June previous.
Various were the duties performed ; at one time it was guarding a steamboat at the wharf ; at another, goods at the levee; again, it was standing in the rain some dark night at some cheerless comer, for what, no one could say ; then, maybe,with an officer and a number of men, it was a tramp, begun after bed-time, to the suburbs, all quietly ; a sort of scouting expedition that alwa3'-s ended in weary legs and good appetites for breakfast.
About this time General Sherman organized, at Mem- phis, an army to advance on Vicksburg, and the wharf was lined with steamboats loading with provisions, muni- tions of war, and a little later, men. One day a great many boats loaded with soldiers left the landing and steamed down the river. It was known to all that there was to be a fight, and I remember looking at the many men that crowded the decks of these steamers as the bells rang, signaling the engineers to put on steam, when
1 Bradley Block.
oS Muskets and Medicine.
the wheels began slowly turning, lashing and churning the water nearby; the boats gently swung round wdth their prows down stream, then getting out into the main channel, a full head of steam was turned on; that heaving sound, characteristic of a boat under full head- way, began ; and the men raised their hats and cheered wildly and long.
They seemed more bent on a pleasure excursion than to give battle and meet a determined and powerful foe. I remember looking at them in this jolly mood, and won-"" dering how many of the merry ones would soon find a grave on a battlefield, and what number would return maimed and wounded. Not very long w^as it when word came that Sherman had been repulsed at Vicksburg, and in a little while after, whole boat loads of wounded sol- diers came up from below.
About the middle of Januar}^, 1863, a comrade of mine, a warm friend, was taken seriously sick and had to be removed to our regimental hospital. That he might have special care and be made as comfortable as possible, I accompanied him thither and remained wath him some weeks, till his friends came from the North and took him home to die.
Becoming acquainted w^ith the surgeons in charge and liking them, and not caring for the irregular and mixed duties of a soldier left about the city, I was induced to remain and become a regular hospital attache. The building occupied was a double frame structure, having a partition from front to rear through the center, with no doors of communication. It was two stories high, and upstairs and down had wide porches the w^hole width of the building. On either side of the partition were two rooms, one in front and one in rear, and a hallway w^ith
A Discouraging Outlook. 59
a flight of stairs that led to the second story, arranged precisely like the lower. One side of the partition, with its four rooms, was occupied by the sick — each room, formed a separate ward, and for three months during the winter of 1862-3 these apartments were literally crowded with the sick from my regiment. The other side of the parti- tion was occupied for offices and used as storage-rooms. Back of the main building and adjoining thereto was a long, low structure used as a kitchen and dining-room.
There w^as a great deal of sickness and many deaths this winter. The most fatal disease was measles. Quite a proportion of the newly-enlisted men had never had measles, and among this class that disease played havoc. A number of great strapping fellows were soon attacked with it, some of whom died, others became permanent invalids and v^'ere discharged, and a few lost their voices or had defective eyesight or hearing. So much for the ravages of a disease in the army that iu civil life is con- sidered a comparatively mild malady.
Perhaps no period of like duration was more discour- aging to the Union cause than the winter of 1862-3. The Army of the Potomac, under Burnside, had met wath terrible disaster at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 1862; Sherman had been repulsed with .sever loss the same month a.t Vicksburg, and December 31, i.ie last day of the year, and January 1, 1863, was fought the bloody battle of Stone's River, or Murfreesboro, between the Union forces under General Rosecrans and the Confed- erates under General Bragg, either side losing in killed and wounded eight to ten thousand men, and neither winning decisive victory.
An unusual amount of serious sickness prevailed throughout the armies that winter. One reason ,possibly,
60 Muskets and Medicine.
was the great amount of rainfall, particularly in the western and southwestern field of operations. Another was the very large accession of new troops. For six months after enlistment a new regiment has to pass through a sort of winnowing process, in which the chaff, so to speak, is separated from the wheat; w^hen the weaklings, the soft, tender, susceptible ones, either die, or, becoming unfit for duty, are discharged, leaving the command with a lot of tried men, as it were — a veritable "survival of the fittest."
Anyway, the winter of 1862-3 was one of peculiar discouragement to Union people. Nearly all wdth whom I came in contact at this period, most of whom were soldiers, seemed to feel this. In and about Memphis sickness of a serious character prevailed among the troops all winter.
The regimental hospital was on one of the main streets, and from its front windows several times daily could be seen a slowly-moving ambulance within which w-as a pine coffin containing the dead body of a soldier, preceded by a military band playing a dirge, and followed by a squad of soldiers with reversed arms. Further on in the sub- urbs was the soldiers' burying ground.
Er}^sipelas prevailed as an epidemic, and many suf- fered terribly from this disease. When it attacked the face, its favorite site, the features were horribly swollen and distorted, the eyes closed, and when all was painted over witl iodine, a frequent local remedy, the sufferer's countenan t w^as as inhuman-like as can be imagined. Erysipelas, measles, rheumatism, ts^phoid fever, dysen- tery and other fatal troubles carried off many men dur- ing the winter. For a time scarce a day passed but one or more men died at our regimental hospital. As one
(. <r One Woman. 61
poor fellow after c her was carried out in his pine coffin I remember thmking of tlie sad news the next out- going mail would convey to friends away up North.
Some wife, mother or sister; would, for a time, lead a sadder life and carry a heavier heart. Before death, in the great majority of cases, the sufferer seemed to pass into a listless condition, wherein indifference was mani- fested for ever}^thing about him; the past and the future seemed alike to be ignored. The mind appeared, in all cases, to fail with the body, and sensation became blunted, so that the so-called "agony of death" was never seen.
One case, however, is recalled in which a patient, just before death from pulmonar}^ consumption, bade farewell to those about him, and expressed a wish to meet them in a better world. His mind appeared clear up to the last moment, and his wasted features and sunken eyes seemed cheerful, and at times almost animated.
Connected with our hospital was a lady who acted as matron. She frequently passed through the wards with some delicacy for the sick in her hands ; this she gave to such as could take it; often the poor fellow had no stomach for anything, but the pleasure of receiving some- thing from the fair hands of woman was too tempting to resist, and down it went, stomach or no stomach. Again, she would pass from cot to cot, saying a kind word to each occupant, adjusting the blanket for this one, wiping the clammy sweat of death from another's brow, and maybe writing to mother or wife for one too feeble to use his pen.
At that_period the trained nurse, as vve_haye^.her- to- day, w^as wholly unknown. Our matron did no nursing, but she was a woman, and that meant much — ver}', very much — amid those surroundings. When she came through
62 Muskets and Medicine.
the wards neatly dressed, with her hair combed smoothly down over her face, as was then the fashion, and a pleas- ant smile lighting up her countenance, she seemed a veritable angel of mercy ; and her mere presence brought up visions of those near and dear in the far-off North- land. To one it was, maybe, a loving mother. To an- other, a kindly sister; to yet another, a faithful wife; and, perhaps, to one more, it was a devoted sweetheart. But always the presence of gentle, kindly, tender woman-" hood. Should the reader be of the masculine gender, and disposed to tire of womankind, let him get rid of all her sex ; banish them from his presence for, say, a period of six months. Then, if at the end of that time his heart does not fairly leap at the mere sight of a w^oman's skirts, his experience will be far different from what mine has been.
One night in February a poor soldier in the delirium of typhoid fever, during the temporary absence of the attendant, got up from his cot, slipped out of the door and, on the return of the nurse, could be found nowhere in the building. Next day he was heard of at his com- pany quarters in a distant part of the city, to which he had made his way in the dead of night, through six inches of snow with the delirium of a burning fever upon him.
About the middle of February signs of spring began to show themselves in that genial climate. Grass became green, peach trees blossomed, bees came out and birds" came around. Sitting on the upper front porch one day and looking toward the river, not many rods away, two or three gunboats were seen to approach the little village of Hopedale,- just opposite Memphis, on the Arkansas
Now West Memphis.
"Poor Hopedaler 63
shore; they did not land, but pretty soon turned away and took Position in the middle of the river, from which point a n. ' -^r of shells were thrown into the village and soon Hu^ le was in flames. It seemed this place had been a sort of rallying point for guerillas, bush- whackers and other irregular Confederate soldiers and to stop their incursions Hopedale had been ordered burned, after, of course, first warning the inhabitants. Ail this I remember reading in a Memphis daily of the time, and an editorial upon it closed with the words: "Poor Hopedale" — war's fortunes for the time converted it into a Hopeless-dale.
Not far from the Arkansas shore, in the river, were the spars and rigging of the sunken General Beauregard, a Confederate vessel lost in the naval battle before Memphis in June, 1862.
As the beautiful weather of spring approached, in leisure hours most enjoyable walks were taken about the city. Nowhere was the soft spring air more pleasure- giving than in a little park near the business part of the city — name forgotten. In this was a statue of General Jackson, having engraved upon the marble pedestal the hero's well-known words: "The Federal Union — it must and shall be presented !" This patriotic sentiment was too much for the eyes of some miserable vandal, and the word "Federal" had been obliterated with a chisel or other sharp tool.
I remember frequent attendance at an Episcopal Church in the city. The pastor had but one eye, and was a very plain man in appearance, but was an able preacher. Here I first saw General J. B. McPherson. His division was at the time encamped near the city, and he improved the opportunity for attendance at a church
64 Muskets and Medicine.
which is said to be a favorite denomination with regular army officers. His handsome person, graceful carriage and affable manners are well remembered.
In the early part of the winter a great many troops were encamped about the city. Most of these were later moved to the vicinity of Vicksburg. While Sherman was making a direct attack on Vicksburg by the river in December, 1862, Grant was moving a co-operating force through the interior, but the capture of his supplies at Holly Springs, December 29, caused an abandonment of the co-operating enterprise. Grant was seriously cen- sured at the time by many in his own department, and I remember vigorously defending him at this period from the charges of drunkenness, incompetency, etc., made by a fellow soldier. It turned out that the abandonment of the line intended to be occupied by the co-operating col- umn was fortunate, as the subsequent flooded condition of the streams would have made the escape of the com- mand next to impossible.
About the time Grant withdrew from this line there was much fear of an attack at Memphis from the Con- federates. One day a comrade came running into quar- ters saying General Bragg was just without the city with an army of ten thousand men, and had demanded its surrender. I was at that time in the ranks, and, like nearly all soldiers, often played at cards for pastime. At this very juncture I had in my breast pocket a long-used pack of cards, and, of course, they were dirty and much soiled. One of the first things I did was to remove these, for how would it sound should I fall in battle to have it said: "In his breast pocket was found" — not the Bible his mother handed him upon leaving home and
il Grnnt as he looked dur \"icksburc Campaiin.
— ''B:it a Deck of Cards/' 65
bade him always carry in his knapsack, nor yet the pic- ture of his affianced — "but a deck of cards."
Well, the cards were removed, but I didn't fall ; didn't, indeed, have a chance to, for General Bragg didn't come near, nor ask the surrender of the city.
CHAPTER VII.
The Vicksburg Campaign.
"With mortal heat each other must pursue;
What wounds, what slaughter shall ensue."
— Dryden.
Vicksburg was called the Gibraltar of the West. It was certainly the greatest stronghold on the Mississippi River, and after the fall of the defenses above and the capture of Forts St. Phillip and Jackson, near the mouth, with the consequent fall of New Orleans, Vicksburg be- came the key to the further obstruction of the river by the Confederates. After the failure of Sherman's attack in 1862, a rendezvous for troops was made at Milliken's Bend, La., twenty miles above Vicksburg.
After the non-success of various plans for the capture of the coveted stronghold. Grant, in the spring of 1863, resolved to get position on the river below by marching his army across the peninsula, in Louisiana, opposite Vicksburg, formed by an abrupt bend in the Mississippi. For this expedition preparations were begun in March. Toward the latter part of this month my regiment was ordered aboard a boat for Vicksburg. Getting all ready and loaded consumed a whole day, and as night drew near a severe snowstorm came up. The boat got under way about midnight. Next morning the storm had sub- sided and the sun came out warm' and bright.
On the w^ay several gunboats were passed and always
spoken to as they patrolled the river, and knew points
where passing vessels were most liable to be fired into by
guerrillas. The sailors on the gunboats always seemed
(66)
First View of General Grant. 67
clean and well dressed, and the deck and all parts of the vessel in sight appeared neat and orderly. In more than one inst-ance, too, it was noticed that Jack, having just done his w'ashing, had hung it out to dry upon a line stretched upon the gunboat deck. Most of the gunboats were heavily mailed with iron, hence w^ere called iron- clads. They were not all built after the same pattern, however.
Another kind of warlike craft were the tin-clads. These were ordinary steamboats protected with thin iron plating that was imper^'ious to musket balk. These w-ere armed with several light pieces of artillerv^ and manned wi*' - -nnrnber of sharp-shooters. On the trip down the river b^ boats laden with troops were encountered.
Toward noon on the second day Milliken's Bend, twenty miles above Vicksburg, on the Louisiana side, was reached, and here our regiment debarked and went into camp. The place selected was near the levee that all along the lowlands next the river had been thrown up to protect the adjacent plantations in time of high water. In m^any places these had broken, and nearly the whole region was inundated ; the bayous and lagoons had, mean- time, grown into inland seas.
April 9, 1863, the division to which our regiment be- longed was reviewed by General Grant. As m.y place was not then in the ranks, and as I had never seen that officer, I managed to get a good view of him while he sat on his horse, attended by a few staff officers. As each regiment passed the officers presented their swords, and the men their guns, in salutation; and Grant, in recognition, raised his hat. During the following three months General Grant became a familiar figure. At this time he appeared a little hea\ier than the average m^n
68 Muskets and Medicine.
of his height, and was, moreover, a Httle stooj^shoul- dered. He wore a short, stubby, slightly reddish-brown beard, and his whole appearance was modest and unas- suming.
From the lips of the late Reverend W. G. Pierce, who ser\'ed as Chaplain of the 77th Illinois Infantry, I had the following: In the fall of 1862 Grant's army was in camp for a time, and the chaplains of a certain division were desirous of holding a series of religious meetings, but the weather was cool and the men did not like to sit out in the open during services. Nearby was a typical Southern "meeting-house," but unfortunately for those interested, it was occupied by General Grant for his headquarters. If that building could only be procured, the meetings could be held. In the conference that was held some one suggested that General Grant was very obliging and maybe could be induced to let the building be used as desired, and finally it was arranged that Chaplain Pierce should call on General Grant and make known the wishes of the religious people in the division. With a good deal of trepidation the errand was under- taken, and when its object w^as made known to General Grant he very obligingly said : "Why, yes. Chaplain, you can just as well have this building as not; and as for our things in here now, we can move them to a large tent we have." General Rawlins, General Grant's chief-of-staff, overheard the conversation, and when he realized what was about to be done began making the air blue with oaths ; and, meantime, paid his peculiar respects to the division chaplains as only he could do. With a quiet smile General Grant said: "Never mind. Chaplain, we keep Rawlins here to do our swearing." Then reaching for pen and paper he wrote an order directing that the
A Chaplain's Story. 69
church be vacated, and that it be put at the service of the chaplains of the division.^
In our Hospital department a large tent had been put up, and in this, upon cots, the sick were made as com- fortable as possible. One thing they certainly had in abundance was fresh air. The water used came from -v- the Mississippi, which at the time was very high, and there was so much sediment that a bucket dipped in the current would be filled with water which, after standing for a time, would have more than an inch of "settlings" in the bottom. But the natives insisted Mississippi River water was healthy, and after sedimentation it was cer- tainly pleasant to drink.
Pretty soon after the "revievv'" came an order to move — "marching orders." The sick were directed to be all taken to a hospital boat, b}^ which they would be taken up the river. Accordingly, they were put in ambulances and taken to the place designated.
I have several times made use of the word ambulance; this, to the reader whose memorv^ does not reach back to Civil War time, may need explanation. An ambulance, then, is simply a light vehicle on springs with a shallow bed and a strong canvas cover overhead. The back end gate worked on hinges at the bottom, so it could be in- stantly let down and the very sick, or badly injured, slipped out, and not lifted over avoidable obstructions. (See pages 133, 134.)
As before said, the sick were put into ambulances, such as were able sitting on their rolled up blankets, those very y sick lying upon theirs, spread out. A train of ambu-
1 This anecdote has never before been in print and its truth can be vouched for. — C. B. J.
"10 Muskets and Medicine.
lances, loaded with sick, made a dreary procession, but at the head of one of these it was my duty to lead the way to a hospital boat, named, if my memory serves me well, the D. A. January. Each sick man, when taken aboard, had his name checked. The name, rank, com- pany, regiment, brigade, etc., were given carefully to the authorities on the boat.
After the sick w^ere aboard and made comfortable, I took occasion to look about the boat and was much pleased. Although I had frequently visited the well-kept general hospitals of Memphis, never had I seen all ar- rangements for the sick so comfortable and convenient. Then the constant moving of the boat, insuring continu- ous change of air, could not fail to be specially beneficial.
About the middle of April the whole command broke camp and started on the march. Our regiment was brigaded with five or six others, and had been assigned to General A. J. Smith's Division of the Thirteenth Army Corps.
A brigade was made up of from three to six or seven regiments; a division of from two to four or five brigades, and an army corps of from two to five divi- sions.
Every regiment had two or three ambulances to carry the sick or disabled, several wagons to haul the tents and other camp equipage. As the war progressed, however, and the men gained experience in the field, the amount of baggage was reduced to a minimum, and every man found it to his advantage to get along with the least pos- sible in the way of clothing while in the field.
To each brigade was attached a batter}^ These, when complete, had six cannon and six caissons — ammunition w^agons — to each of which were attached six horses. It
071 the March. 71
will be thus seen that a division, with its men marching in not very close ranks, its ambulances, wagons, batteries, etc., necessarily occupied a good deal of space when on the road. But, in addition, there was always a train of wagons besides, containing provisions, ammunition and necessary extra supplies.
To get this long line of men, wagons, batteries, etc., in proper order and in motion was no little task, and often consumed no little time and necessitated many false starts and sudden halts. To all this, however, the men soon became accustomed, and in a little w^hile made good use of every halt by taking all the rest thus afforded.
Most of the section of country traversed was low, and the roads, when not overflown, were either quite muddy or else very rough. Indeed, in many places roads had to be made and bridges built; frequently, however, the road ran along the top of the levee, as before stated. The first day's march took the command to Richmond, La., a small town nearly west of V'icksburg, and the next to Holmes' plantation, a large tract of land belonging to General Holmes of the Confederate Army. Here a stop of several days was made, and from a letter written by me Sunday, April 19, the following extract is made :
''There are a great many fine plantations through here ; indeed, through this part of the countr}^ there is nothing else but fine ones. Most of these have from thirty to fifty negro houses (quarters) on them. The planter usually lives in a one-story^ house with porches all around it. The plantations, though, are mostly deserted, only a few negroes remaining. It has been only three or four weeks since the first Federal troops came in here. One month ago the Secesh thought they were entirely safe here, but they were mistaken.
72 Muskets and Medicine.
"Com (April 19) is six inches high and has been plowed once ; the forest is as green as it will be this year ; roses and nearly all flowers are in full bloom.
"We are now encamped on a plantation owned by a man named Holmes — now a General in the Secesh Army. This place contains nine hundred acres, and is the small- est of four belonging to Holmes. He also owns four steamboats on the Mississippi River. On this plantation is a fine mill. Down here they have cotton-gins, grist and sawmills all unden one roof."
The night of April 16, 1863, the six gunboats, Benton, Louisville, Lafayette, Mound City and Carondolet, and the three transports, Forest Queen, Silver Wave and Henry Clay, ran by the Vicksburg batteries — ran the blockade, as we put it. The transports were loaded with army stores ; their boilers were protected with cotton bales and bales of hay, and each had in tow one or more barges loaded with coal. 'Every vessel was struck a num- ber of times, but none, save the Henry Clay, received vital injur}'.
Regarding this occurrence the following extract is taken from a letter of April 19, 1863, also written at Holmes' plantation, about twenty miles west of Vicks- burg:
"We are to march again in a few days ; are going to Carthage, which is on the river below Vicksburg, Most of the heavy things, such as large tents, commis:sary stores, etc., were taken aboard transports to be conveyed down the river. These, of course, had to run the block- ade at Vicksburg, and this they did last Thursday night (April 16). There were six gunboats and three trans- ports. We heard the firing very distinctly. One trans- port was burned."
U. S. Army HoS|.ital Steamer -U. A. January." (From Medical ami Surgical History of the Civil War.)
Interior of Hospital Boat. Cots made-up for reception of patients.
(See page 70)
Bellowing Alligators. 73
Our regiment, in common with the division, received marching orders the evening of April 24, and about 8 o'clock at night got under way. The roads were rough and the night was dark, consequently one's footing was most uncertain. In the bayous all about, the alligators made night hideous with their bellowing. All night our regiment marched, and next morning at 6 o'clock pulled up at Smith's plantation, two and one-half miles from New Carthage. Here our division went into camp, and, although two or three miles from the river, several steamboats came in on a bayou and were near campi for a day or so.
Having met with such success running the blockade the night of April 16, the Federals resolved to attempt it again, consequently the next week a number of trans- ports were loaded with stores, and with their boilers and machinery well protected with baled hay and cotton, again ran the blockade, losing only one vessel; the Tigress J if the writer's memory ser\'es him well. The boats that came to Smith's plantation had been struck in a number of places, and had portions of their pilot-houses shot away. One boat was the Hiawatha and the other the Silver Wave.
While at Smith's plantation quite a little sensation was created by reason of one of the soldiers receiving an accidental shot. Upon examination, however, it proved to be of little danger, though received in the neck; it was from a revolver shot of such small caliber that but little injury was inflicted. This was Sunday, and is remem- bered as a warm, sultr}^ day, the sun at one time shining bright, at another passing behind clouds. A little while before night orders came to pack up and go on the march at once. The night was intensely dark, and soon
74: Muskets a7id Medicine.
a drizzling rain began falling, but the men marched along as merry as could be, singing, whistling and cracking jokes. But, after a time, the pitchy darkness, wetting, rain and rough roads took the merriment out of every- one, and the march w^as continued till about 1 or 2 o'clock A.M., when our regiment was halted by the side of a rail fence, and in a little time I was sleeping sweetjy on two fence rails fv^r, perhaps, two hours and a half, when some coffee was hastily made and drank, and the march resumed at da3dight. It still rained, and the roads were horrible, but the march was kept up all day, while the weather continued cloudy and rain fell at intervals. The country passed through was uninviting, and the bad roads and unpleasant day make the memory of this time anything but pleasant. Wagons and artiller}^ stalled, and horses and mules mired dov.m, and all had to be pulled and lifted out by hand.
Night at last came, and I remember feeling too tired even to sleep. Coffee was made and plenty of this drank, and in a short time renewed strength seemed to come. With the coffee was eaten hard bread and salt pork. The pork was cut in thin slices, one of which was put on the end of a sharp-pointed stick and toasted. When one had marched all day this was eaten with relish, as was the hard bread that, in camp, was most unpalatable. The ground was wet and thoroughly saturated with water, and to meet this condition of things, little boughs were broken off the trees and thrown on the ground; upon these, rubber and woolen blankets were spread, and the sweetest sleep imaginable obtained.
The sun came out bright and warm next day, and for a long distance the road lay along the west bank of Lake St. Joseph, a most beautiful sheet of water, said to have
The ''Sunny South/' 75
been once the bed of the Mississippi. Upon the borders of t-ki_s. lake were several handsome residences. Two of unusual eleg-ance are in particular called to mind; one belonged to a Dr. Bowie, and was furnished in most elaborate style. This, as well as the other fine re.sidences, was vacated by the owner. The Bowie house was burned, some weeks later, about the time Shermian's corps came through that region.
Along the lake's western bank the road wound in front - of most delightful hom.es, while its eastern shore was overhung by noble forest trees, and these had long fes- toons of moss hanging gracefully from their boughs. Many flowers, shrubs and trees w^ere seen with which Northern eyes were unfamiliar ; these gave the region a half tropical appearance. In this delightful spot, with the air soft, balmy and filled with the fragrance of flowers, birds singing, and so much to please the senses, I thought I never had looked upon so much of blooming, sunny, delicious, glorious nature. It was, indeed, a per- fect specimen of the Sunny South — a real httle para- dise, and as such was, no doubt, regarded by its wealthy residents, who only a few weeks before felt as secure from invasion as the residents of the North.
The region being in a great degree isolated, in a low level section of country that had to be protected from overflow by levees was, particularly in a season remark- able for high water, deemed safe from all invasion, if not, indeed, proof against it. But the persistent Grant had decreed it otherwise, and now long and formidable columns of energetic and hardy Northerners were m.ak- ing their way through the very heart of this enchanting countrv.
76 Muskets and Medicine.
So impenetrable was the locality deemed by the Con- federates that Pemberton, it was said, to the last per- sisted in the belief that the movement was not in force and was only a feint, and intended as a diversion from a serious attack on Vicksburg from some other quarter.
The 29th of April the Mississippi was reached at Hard Times Landing, nearly opposite Grand Gulf. Just below the latter place is De Shroon's plantation, and thither tlie column marched after a short stop at Hard Times. The line led in sight of Grand Gulf, into which our gunboats were seen throwing shells; the firing was very deliberate, and at the time was not responded to by the Confed- erates. The na\^^, however, failed to reduce the works.
About 10,000 troops, belonging to the Thirteenth Corps, had gone aboard transports at New Carthage, some twenty or thirty miles above. A landing place for these was sought above Grand Gulf, on the Mississippi side, but none being found, they debarked at Hard Times after nightfall, and quietly marched across the peninsula, on the Louisiana shore, opposite the rebel stronghold.
Meantime, the na\^^ engaged the Confederate batteries, during which the loaded transports ran by. My regi- ment was encamped a few miles below, and the can- nonading made a terrific noise. Whether it came from the \\t2,vy caliber of the guns engaged or from the peculiar state of atmosphere, I cannot say, but never did the terrific din of cannonading strike my ears with such force. Every shot, too, seemed to have a peculiar ring- ing sound that was piercing in its effects upon the organs of hearing. As before stated, my regiment encamped the night of the 29th of April at De Shroon's plantation, below Grand Gulf, on the river.
Crossing the Mississippi. "17
Ver}^ early on the morning of April 30 the gunboats and transports, both alive with soldiers, were seen on the river. These moved over towards the Mississippi shore, and I remember almost shuddering with fear lest they would be fired into from the adjoining hills. The boats all moved down the river about six miles and landed at Bruinsburg.
The Hospital department of our regiment did not go aboard a boat till near nightfall, and having been in- formed that all would remain on board over night, and feeling much fatigued, I, beside a companion, stretched myself upon two cotton bales lying side by side and slept sweetly till early dawn, when it was found that the boat, having dropped down/he river during the night, was then tied up at Bruinsburg. Word was received to join our regiment at once, then in line upon the shore and ready to march inland, where it was said a battle was already in progress.
CHAPTER VIII.
Our First Battle.
"The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife; The mom the marshaling in arms — "
— Byron.-
While the fleet of gunboats under Commodore Porter at Grand Gulf, below Vicksburg, engaged the enemy, and McClearnand's corps was seeking a landing nearby, upon the same date, April 29, 1863, Sherman debarked ten regiments above Vicksburg on Yazoo River at Haines' Bluff, as if to attack the latter place, while at the same time it was bombarded by eight gunboats.
The whole demonstration at Haines' Bluff, however, was only a feint intended to confuse the enemy and divert his attention from the real point of atack at Grand Gulf.
The Thirteenth Corps effected a landing at Bruins- burg, Miss., April 30, and early on the morning of May 1 met most of Grand Gulf Garrison (Confederate) un- der General Bowen, seven miles inland from Bruinsburg and within five miles of Port Gibson, the most important town in that vicinity and located on Bayou Pierre. The Federals were upon the southern side of this stream. To reach them the Grand Gulf Garrison had to cross the bayou and, as the water in the stream was at the time high, they were obliged to go to the only bridge in the vicinity, namely, the one at Port Gibson, but much out of their way.
It had been the hope of the Federals to secure pos- session of this bridge before the arrival of the Confed- (78)
We Lose Our Cash. 19
erates ; and it was the hope of the latter to meet the in- vading column at or very near the landing place, Bruins- burg.
But neither side had its wish gratified; the Confed- erates reached the bridge at Port Gibson, crossed upon it, and pushed five miles beyond toward the river, when their further course was interrupted by the Federals in force on high ground. So much for what immediately preceded the battle of Port Gibson. As narrated in the previous chapter, the night of April 30 I had slept beside a companion aboard a river boat upon, two bales of cot- ton, and at early dawn, next morning, went ashore with this companion and joined our regiment, then falling in line two or three hundred yards distant. I had just reached our regiment when, putting my hand in my pocket, I found that three or four dollars in money, all I had, was gone. I spoke of my misfortune, and re- ceived a lecture from Wigton, my companion of the night previous, and some twenty-five or thirty years my senior. "Just like you," he began; "always losing something. Your carelessness will be the ruin of you yet. I'm thinkin' you'll lose your head one of these days."
As the firing from the battle, then in progress a few miles away, could already be heard, the last and greatest accident was not at all an impossibility.
However, as the command was in the heart of the enemy's country and was just on the point of cutting loose from its base of supplies, I felt as though I could not give up my lost money without making an effort to find it. Learning that a few moments would elapse before the command would start, I ran back to the boat, made my way to the bales of cotton, and turning them about, had stooped over and was looking around care-
80 Muskets and Medicine.
fully, thinking maybe the pocketbook had slipped from my pocket, when a voice just behind was heard calling my name, and asking :
"Have you found your pocketbook? I declare, mine's gone, too."
Lx)oking up, who did I see but Wigton, my comrade of the night previous, who only a moment before was chiding me for my ill-fortune and negligence. It was clear now that someone had stolen both pocketbooks while their owners slept.
The joke on Wigton, however, was too good to keep, and it was many a day before his companions let him hear the last of it. Poor Wigton; his beard was quite gray, and, for one in active service, he was quite old, but he was a brave, true soldier, and when last seen was very lame and hobbling about on crutches with a prospect of remaining so from a wound received in the Red River Expedition in the spring of 1864.
Just before starting on the march each man received in his canteen a little whiskey. The regiment had never been in battle, and whether this was given to supply them with extra courage or whether it was thought the en- forced march about to be entered upon required the use of stimulants, is not known. But whatever the intention may have been, no good came from the whiskey, and before night several in our regiment were foolishly drunk. When all was ready we started off at a brisk pace to- ward the rising sun, just visible through the tree-tops. For two miles the road ran through the river bottom, then up a long hill of red clay, next by quiet farm- houses and cultivated fields, through pretty wooded groves and up quiet lanes, all bearing the marks of peace,
A Wounded Confederate. 81
and resting in supposed security from the inroads of invading armies.
The boomi of cannon could be heard, and after awhile the rattle of musketry ; this excited the men, and they marched the faster. As the morning advanced it became very wann and many threw away knapsacks, overcoats and anything and everything that impeded progress to- ward the sounds of battle in f ront. _
By and by, towards noon, V^'-M hospital 4;;.th^ rda2- side was reached, and here a stalwart 'soldier, '"witli his arm in a sling, and the bright blood oozing through the bandages over a wound on his breast otherwise bare, came and stood by the roadside and watched the re-en- forcements go forward. His was the first blood I saw flow from a Confederate bullet.
Other field hospitals were soon passed, and after a lit- tle, fences thrown dovfn, com fields tracked over, and everything disarranged and tramped upon, told that large bodies of men had been deployed and advanced over that ground earlier in the day. A Httle ahead broken wheels and dismomited cannon, and now and then a dead soldier, with here and there a disemboweled horse, showed that the advance of the Federals had met with resistance. Next the road ran down a hill and into the timber ; here the command halted for a few moments, and I stepped aside to see some Federal surgeons dressing the wounds of a young Confederate soldier. He was a stout-built young fellow, but was pale and seemed exhausted from loss of blood. He w2^s suffering from a large flesh wound in the calf of the leg.
Our regiment was ordered to make some coftee and liave dinner, and then move to the front. This done, the knapsacks were piled up and left in care of a guard,
6
82 Muskets and Medicine.
and then the command turned to the left of the main road, passed forward through com fields, and, at last, halted a little way from the top of, and partly down a liill, in a field of growing corn.
At this time the firing on this part of the field was desultory, bullets whistling past all the while, but no volleys were fired. Two hundred yardg in front of our regiment . was . a .branch ^ and beyond, was a cane-brake ci-ru-L thick timber, .Wq were .resting quietly, facing the cane-brake, when all at once without warning, a volley of bullets struck the ground all about us, but, strange to say, only one man was wounded, and he, in the hand, but slightly. Although the volley did so little execution the men were much excited and wanted to fire in return, but this was forbidden by the officers.
At this juncture some one from the top of the hill cried out: "Shell the woods," and in leas time than it takes to tell it our brigade battery was brought to the top of the hill and' was soon throwing grape and cannis- ter over the heads of our regiment into the dense timber beyond.
As soon as the batter}' ceased firing the wounded man was turned over to me to be taken back to our first aid station under the charge of First Assistant Surgeon David Wilkins, and located just back of the firing-line. Proceeding on this errand, I reached the top of the hill from which our brigade battery, the Chicago Mercan^ tile, for a few moments shelled the woods in our front, when along came three mounted officers, who proved to be General Grant, Commander of the Army of the Tennessee; General John A. McClemand, Com- mander of the Thirteenth Army Corps, of which, we were an integral part; and General John A. Logan in
A Swearing General. 83
comm_a,nd of a division in the Seventeenth Army Corps, and now* known as the "Prince of Volunteer Soldiers." No sooner had these officers reached the rear of the Mercantile Battery than General Logan raised' in his stirrups, and in a clarion voice demanded :
"Who in the h — 1 and d — nation ordered that batter}^ to fire on that timber? My division is over there, and by I'll hold somebody responsible for this !"
No one gave answer to General Logan's red-hot in- quiry, and in a moment he, General McClemand and General Grant, rode out of sight. After properly dispos- ing of the wounded man I turned about to return to the front and came upon the dead body of an artiller}m:ian who had fallen in the very spot I had occupied a moment before. Passing on, I found my regiment had advanced, and going forward over a hill, a bullet stru^ck a young sycamore not far from my head. Later, we learned that Confederate sharp-shooters took position in trees, where they were protected by the foliage, and picked oft any of our men who came in sight, and, doubtless, one of these drew a bead on me as I was crossing the brov*' of the hill.
Advancing, I came upon a regiment part of the way down hill, and in their front shells from the enemy's cannon were falling, and could be seen coming through the air. The sun was getting low, and I had not yet reached my regiment when I came upon four men carr}'- ing a stretcher upon w^hich w'as Captain W. H. Johnson^ of otir regiment, who had received an ugly flesh wound in the gluteal region from a cannister shot. The party
1 Captain W. H. Johnson, Company H, 139th Illinois Infantry- Volunteers.
84: Muskets and Medicine.
was conducted to a farm-house, where the wounded man was made comfortable, and later reached his regiment at Vicksburg, meantime making a good recovery from his injury.
The country all about Grand Gulf, Miss,, is hilly and broken up into ravines and hollows. A little west of Port Gibson the road to the river divides, and two road- ways, for a number of miles, follow along two lines of ridges.
Upon either of these roads General Bowen, in com- mand of the Confederate forces, took position five miles from Port Gibson the night of April 30, 1863. Here he encountered the Federals May 1, was driven back with considerable loss, and just before night made a stand with a small part of his force two miles from Port Gib- son, while his main army retreated. During the night of May 1 the last Confederate withdrew beyond Bayou Pierre, and the bridge behind was burned.
The same night the Federals slept on their arms, with orders to renew the conflict early in the morning. When morning came, however, it was found there was no enemy near.
The night of May 1, 1863, is as indelibly impressed on my memory as the pre^dous day's battle. Through the day the excitement, the novelty of being for the first time under fire, the many strange and interesting things incident to battle, made the whole experience rather pleasurable than otherwise. But night brought anything but pleasurable experiences. As before stated, the knap- sacks, blaiil<:ets and all ofi the kind had been left behind. And as the nights in the South, even in the warmest weather, are cool, much discomfort was experienced for want of something in the way of covering. A rubber
''Glory" from a i A.M. Viewpoint. 85
blanket was shared with a companion, but this seemed to catch all the dew and moisture there was in the atmos- phere, and from its surface was absorbed by one's cloth- ing. Under the circumstances sleep was broken, and in wakeful hours my mind naturally dwelt upon the horrible in the previous day's history. Thoughts something as follows had free course through my brain:
"Well, our regiment for six months has been wanting to be in a battle, and now it's been in one, and not a hard one either ; but there is probably not a man but next time will cheerfully take some other fellow's word for it and stay out himself, if he can do so honorably. Then those dead fellows were lying beside the road just like they were slaughtered hogs or sheep! And besides, how piteously the wounded moaned, and how horrible their poor maimed limbs and gaping wounds looked. There may be lots of glory in war, but it isn't so radiant nor ver}^ apparent at about 1 o'clock the next morning after a battle."
However, the morning's sun of May 2 came up warm, bright and beautiful; some strong coffee was taken, when word came in that the Confederates were badly defeated the day before, and had all retired from our front; and that we were to follow immediately. At this time a 3'oung Confederate soldier turned up, but from just where no one knew. One of our surgeons, however, tapped him on the shoulder, saying: "You are my pris- oner." He, like Barkis, was "willin'," and was at once turned over to the proper authorities.
All fell in line and were soon on the road to Port Gib- son. A little way along the route, the place where the Confederates made their last stand was seen ; this was at the top of a hill. By the roadside, near a pile of
86 Muskets and Medicine.
rails, lay a dead Confederate, He seemed to have been a tall, lanky fellow, a typical specimen, and though the weather was as warm as June in the North, there was yet on his head a heavy fur cap. A little farther on, under a mulberry tree, lay the body of a good-looking young Confederate. He was rotund in figure, and had on what seemed to be a new suit of gray jeans. Already the blue flies were hovering about the dead body ; but his late enemies, thus soon becoming familiar with violent forms of death, complacently gathered mulberries from the tree above him. Most of the Confederate dead were said to have been collected before the retreat and buried in a ravine. Those seen were what fell from the few left behind to cover the retreat. Thus, a few scattered dead Federal soldiers by the roadside were seen when coming upon the battlefield eighteen hours before, and now several Confederate dead, fallen by the wayside, were come upon when leaving the field of strife — a few falling rain-drops precede a thunder shower, and some scattering rain-drops again betoken its close.
About 9 o'clock Port Gibson was reached and found to be a pretty little town. Over two or three houses red flags were flying, thus indicating that the buildings were occupied as hospitals. At the door of one of these an attache was met who seemed friendly and talkative. Be- ing an enlisted Confederate soldier, he was an enthu- siastic Southerner, and said:
"No, you never will take Vicksburg in the world. It will turn out just like your On to Richmo7id. The South will gain her independence, and Southern Illinois and Southern Indiana will yet become a part of the Con- federacy."
An Enthusiastic Confedei'ate. 87
His notions about Indiana and Illinois were evidently- obtained at a very early period in the war, and badly needed readjustment. When asked if he thought failure to subdue the South would be for want of valor in the Federal soldiers, he answered:
"Not in you, men, you are from the West, and West- ern soldiers will fight, but Eastern soldiers won't."
Here was another notion obtained early in the war (concerning Eastern soldiers) that sorely needed revision. This man was dressed in jeans of the prescribed gray hue, he talked quite intelligently, and did not have the Southern accent, but among other things, hooted de- risively at Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation as utterly futile, so far as any effect it would have in free- ing the slave.
The Federals, at once, set about extemporizing a bridge across the bayou ; this was completed so that many crossed that night and my regiment early next morning, when the line of march was taken up in a general north- ern course from Port Gibson. This, the 3d of May, was a beautiful Sabbath day, and many pleasant home-like places were passed. Grant's gaining the battle of Port Gibson and afterward promptly pushing his columns into the interior, turned the Confederate works at Grand Gulf and caused their evacuation. These were promptly taken possession of by our troops and made the base upon the Mississippi side of the river instead of Bruinsburg.
Two or three days after leaving Port Gibson rations gave out, and the army was directed to live off the country. The region was well-stocked with corn, bacon, sheep, chickens, turkeys, honey, etc. The com was in cribs, from which it was taken, shelled and carried to the horse-mills, one of which was on nearly every plantation.
88 Muskets and Medicine.
where it was ground into meal. Every Southerner re- gards his home incomplete without a large and well- lilled smoke-house. This is a rough outbuilding, consist- ing usually of one room and generally without a floor, As soon as cold weather comes it brings to the Souther- ner hog-killing time, when, from ten to thirty hogs are butchered, the number depending on the size of the fam- ily and thrift of its head. The pork is first "salted down" in brine and, after soaking for a time, hung up to drip in the smoke-house. After a little while it is thoroughly smoked by having under it for days a smoth- ered fire made of hickory. After going through this process the meat becomes bacon, and in the preparation of the latter the Southerner has no equal. Ham taken from his smoke-house is matchless in taste and quality. Many smoke-houses were found filled with bacon ; others were discovered that bore marks of a hasty removal of contents to some less conspicuous place for safe keeping. Often the meat was buried or put in some retired spot in the woods, but, through a d^iky or some such means, its hiding-place was in nearly all instances sought out by the persistent Northerners.
Home-made bacon was a favorite meat with the sol- diers, and for a time they enjoyed with it corn bread, made from the freshly ground com meal of the country. Lamb, turkey, chicken and honey, for a season, made the bill of fare seem perfect. But the principal trouble of subsisting an army off a country in this way is the great improvidence of the soldiers. There is more wasted than eaten. However, for more than two weeks in May, 1863, Grant's army, of from thirty to forty thousand men, lived bountifully off the region east and southeast of \^icksburg.
''A Bitter Experienced 89
Many pleasant camping places were found. One, in particular, comes in memory which, if the writer's recol- lection senses him w^ell, was near Willow Springs. The Hospital department encamped in the shade of some bushy-like trees in the very shallow and dry bed of a wide stream that was covered smoothly over \\ath the whitest and finest sand. It was level and clean as a thrifty housewife's Kitclien floor. Here the com meal was made into toothsome bread and eaten with fresh young lamb, while luscious honey was in plenty for dessert.
About this time I remember longing especially for fresh milk, and resolved at the Ytry first opportunity to get some. One day, when on the march, a farm-house was passed, and upon the opposite side of the road were a lot of cows fastened up in the "coppen" (cow-pen), as the Southerners say. I was not long in getting over the fence, nor long in selecting a cow with a fine udder, from which I soon filled my canteen. The fence was again hurriedly clambered over and the regiment overtaken. By and by, when a drink of nice, fresh milk could no longer be postponed, the canteen was turned up, w^hen, horrors !^-ivhat a bitter taste! Quinine could have been no worse. It was learned soon after from a native that the cows in that season feed upon young cane-shoots, and these Sfive the bitter taste to the milk.
CHAPTER IX.
Attack on Vicksburg From The South
AND East.
"The neighb'ring plains with arms are covered o'er;_ The vale an iron harvest seems to yield — "
— Dryden.
It had been Grant's intention, upon securing a foot- hold below Vicksburg, to detach part of his command and send it to General Banks at Port Hudson, which place the last-mentioned officer was about to besiege. But learning that ten days would elapse before Banks would be ready to commence active operations in the \'icimty of Port Hudson, and meeting with such gratify- ing success at the battle of Port Gibson, with the conse- quent evacuation of Grand Gulf, Grant resolved to push for the interior and threaten Vicksburg from the east and southeast.
About the middle of May, 1863, General Joseph E. Johnston came to Jackson, Miss., the State capital, established his headquarters there, and assumed general command in the department. Johnston had under his immediate command ten to fifteen thousand troops. To prevent the junction of these with the force under Pem- berton at Vicksburg, became an immediate object with Grant. The Seventeenth Corps, under General J. B. McPherson, and Fifteenth, under General W. T. Sher- man, had followed the Thirteenth Corps from Milliken's Bend before the 10th of May, and were with Grant, southeast of Vicksburg.
(90)
Glorious Birdr 91
The second week in May the battle of Raymond was fought, twenty miles west of Jackson, between troops of the Seventeenth Corps, mainly Logan's Division, and some of General Johnston's commajid ; the latter were defeated and returned to Jackson, which place was soon after attacked by Sherman, and the troops defending it, under General Johns-ton, beaten and driven North. All this time the Thirteenth Corps was hugging the eastern bank of the Big Black River. McClernand, with the Thirteenth Corps, was thus on the left, McPherson in the center, and Sherman on the right, all facing the north.
From the 3d of May, when our regiment left Port Gibson, till about the 13th of that month, the part of the army we were with. General A. J. Smith's Division of the Thirteenth Corps, moved in a general northerly course. Willow Springs, Rocky Springs, Cayuga and Mount Auburn were severally occupied, and among other streams crossed were Big Sandy, Five Mile Creek and Fourteen Mile Creek. At Cayuga the command, our division, halted for a day or two. It was now dry and dusty, the immediate vicinity was devoid of streams, and the only water available was dipped from stagnant ponds, after the green scum covering them had been pushed aside. While here, towards the middle of a hot sultry day, a division marched by on the dusty road, near which Smith's Division was encamped. Among the moving troops was a \\'isconsin regiment which had a pet eagle. A perch was made for him^ upon a thin board cut in the form of a shield ; to this he was chained, and all was borne upon the shoulder of a soldier. As before said, the day was hot, the roads were dusty, and the eagle, with drooping feathers and a general crestfallen appear-
92 Muskets and Medicine.
ance, looked anything but the "Proud Bird" he is sup- posed to be. Wonderful stories concerning the eagle were, however, in circulation. Among other things it was said that in time of battle, when he was always loosened, he would soar above the men, flap his wdngs, hover about and scream with delight. The Wisconsin regiment that had this "emblem of its country" became noted as the "Eagle Regiment,"
At Auburn, General Frank P. Blair's Division joined Smith's. Frank P. Blair, before the war, was a promi- nent and vigorous opponent of slavery, and lived at St. Louis, Mo. In the hardl3'-contested slavery discussions that preceded the war many free-soil speeches were made by him, and full reports of these frequently appeared in the Missouri Democrat, the only paper of any prominence published in St. Louis that opposed ,Maver}^ Blair en- tered the army and proved a most efficient officer.
While at Auburn word was received of Hooker's de- feat— the Army of the Potomac — at Chancellorsville, the 2d and 3d of May, 1863.
Our immediate command — Smith's Division — moved northward, and about the 13th or 14th of May crossed Fourteen Mile Creek and encamped over night some miles north of this stream. It was at the time under- stood that the eneni}'- was not far off — in fact, they were in force but five miles away, at Edward's Station, on the Vicksburg & Jackson Railroad.
All this time the line of march had led in a nortlierly direction, but early the next morning, after encamping north of Fourteen Mile Creek, the division faced about, recrossed that stream, and finally took a road eastward for Raymond. This place was reached late in the even- ing, and our regiment went into camp some little dis-
Battle of Champions Hill 93
tance east of the town. Early next morning we faced about again, passed through the town and took a road leading in a northwesterly direction; very soon the enemy's pickets were encountered, and the whole divi- sion, about 9 o'clock, deployed and advanced in Hne of battle.
The country, on both sides the road, was either culti- vated fields or, for the most part, open timber, so that the advance was unobstructed by thick underbrush or ravines. The eneni}- did not seem to be in strong force in front, and the advance was most beautiful and orderly. Every regiment had its flag unfurled and banner flying, and all moved forward with stately tread. The writer looked on with admiration, for here was the '''pomp and circumstance of war" witliout its horrors. But heavy firing oft to the right told that others were not coming Oil so easily. This was the battle of Champion's Hill, an elevation that commanded the whole region.
The road upon which were Smith and Blair's Divisions ran to the south of the elevation, hence but slight resist- ance was found in their front. But, on the other roads to the north, upon which Carr's, Osterhaus' and Hovey's Di\asions came into action, the enemy was met in force. Hovey's Division belonged to the Thirteenth Corps, but for the time was with McPherson upon the northern or main Vicksburg & Jackson Road. Hovey fought terribly and suffered severely; a large share of the whole loss was sustained by his division, which that day lost one- third of its number.
The Confederates sustained ovenA'helming defeat, los- ing in killed, wounded and missing upw^ards of six thousand; and, towards and after night, retreated pre- cipitately.
94 Muskets and Medicine. •
The Thirteenth Corps pursued them early on the morning of the 17th of May, and before noon came upon their fortifications on the Big Black River, where the railway bridge crosses that stream. With the Hospital department I was behind with the trains. These moved very deliberately. Early in the morning a house was passed that had been riddled through and through with cannon balls.
Before noon Edward's Station was reached, and at the Confederate Hospital the writer's attention was called to a young Confederate who, it was said, had his heart on the "wrong side." There w^as probably some enlarge- ment that made the heartbeat appear to the rig-ht of the center of the chest. At noon-time rest and dinner were taken under some trees in a pasture, and while here a Confederate paper w^as seen which told w^hat terrible losses the invaders had sustained, and how they were soon to be hurled back and sent flying to their homes!
After a time the road was again taken, and pretty soon a cot was passed at the side of the road upon which was a dying officer. Before Black River Bridge was reached the advance had skirmished with the enemy, and in this affair the officer, who was the Colonel of tiie Twenty- third Iowa, if my memory serves me well, received a mortal wound. He w^as lying on his back unconscious and deadly pale, and upon his brow was the clammy sweat of death. Towards night a stop was made, and, with some comrades, I slept near the front gate of a farmhouse; nearby lay the dead body of a Confederate soldier who fell in a skirmish earlier in the day. His body lay there all night. Next morning the march was again resumed. The whole line of the route, particularly that of the day previous, was strewm at the roadside wnth
Battle of Black Rive?' Bridge. 95
the guns, knapsacks, canteens, broken wagons and extra g-arments-qf the Confederates. These were especially numerous between the Champion's Hill battle ground and Edward's Station.
Pretty early on the morning of May 18 the bluffs of Black River were reached, and the remains of the burned railroad bridge came in sight. A little later my regi- ment was found inside of the Confederate works cap- tured the day previous. I soon had from my comrades, who had been participants in the battle of Black River Bridge, a full account of the whole affair. It was almost a bloodless ^^cto^)^ A bayou circles around to the east from Black River at the railroad bridge, forming a sort of horseshoe, one-half to three-quarters of a mile in extent; just within this the Confederates, with cotton bales from the neighboring plantation, had extemporized breastworks. These were well manned, and at, con- venient intervals cannon were planted. Upon the hills, just west of the river, the Confederates were in force. Lawler, with his brigade, charged the left flank of the Rebel line, when the whole of the enemy either sur- rendered or sought safety in fiight. Seventeen hundred prisoners were taken, m.any of whom, when the charge was first made, became panic-stricken, tore out little bunches of cotton from the bales in the breastworks and hoisted these upon the points of their bayonets in token of surrender.
I spent some time in visiting the works lately occupied by the Confederates; they seemed strong, and the whole position was very similar to that occupied by the Fed- erals eighteen months later at Frankhn, Tenn., where the furious charges of Hood's forces were made unsuc-
96 Muskets and Medicine.
cessfully and with sucli terrible loss, upon Schofield, the Union Commander.
Having lost, since the 1st day of May, 1863, the bat- tles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion's Hill and Black River Bridge, all in the vicinity of Vicksburg, the Confederates, on the 17th of the same month, retired within the works of that stronghold.
As S'Oon as the position at Black River was lost, the bridge at that point was burned. The Pioneer Corps, however, fell to work most energetically, and by 10 o'clock of May 18, a temporar}^ bridge was ready for use. Eighteen guns were captured at Black River. Many of these were handsome and finished in a most beautiful manner. Several had painted upon them in gilt letters names of popular Confederate, officers, but qualified with the v/ord lady. Thus there was the "'Lady Davis," "Lady Price," "Lady Beauregard," etc.
Before noon nearly the whole command was across the Big Black River and headed for Vicksburg, ten or tM^elve miles distant. The way was, for the most part, lined with farmhouses.
The Thirteenth Corps bore to the left and, at night- fall, was within about four miles of the works that en- circled Vicksburg. Orders were given to make fires only in the ravines, with which the region was well supplied.
Early next morning the whole command advanced. As the Confederates had, so far, been defeated and had in the last engagement yielded what seemed a strong position with so little resistance, the opinion came to prevail throughout the Federal Army that Vicksburg would yield without further resistance. Filled with this idea the Union forces confidently approached the out- works of Vicksburg on the morning of May 19, but
Ou7' Division Hospital. 97
found the Confederates wi.tliout these in Hne of bat- tle'. They soon retired, however, and meantime the Federals, by this time convinced that the foe in front intended ' to nght, approaclied cautiously but deter- minedly.
The division established its hospital about four miles from the Confederate works at the house of a man named Swett. The house was built miainly of logs in the center of a large yard that sloped down in nearly every direction.
Everything was got in readiness at the hospital to receive the wounded. The surgeons had their instru- ments all ready for use ; long, bright, razor-edged knives for cutting through fieshy parts in amputations and sharp-toothed, shining saws for sawing bone. Then there were strong forceps for extracting bullets, bone pliers for snipping off jagged ends of bone and tour- niquets for arresting hemorrhage. Sponges for washing wounds and lint and bandages for dressing them were in plentiful supply.
Among the more prominent drugs were morphine, for alleviating pain, chloroform and ether for producing anesthesia (insensibilit}' to suffering), brandy, wine, whiskey and quinine for exhaustion, and perchloride of iron, a powerful styptic, to stop bleeding. To be used in the way of nourishment there were beef essences, con- densed milk, strong coffee, beef soup, broths, crackers, etc., etc.
The yard at Swett's was filled with shade trees, and under these it was proposed to put the wounded. Am- bulances were sent to the front, and ever)^thing was in readiness at the hospital to make as comfortable as pos- sible the injured. Toward noon I w^ent forward a
98 Muskets and Medicine.
couple of miks; since 8 o'clock there had been firing, and this grew heavier ajid heavier as the day advanced. As yet, however, there wa:s but little in the immediate front, but nearly all was to the right. Sherman, with the Fifteenth Corps, was on the extreme right, McPher- son (Seventeenth Corps) was in the center, and Mc- Clernand (Thirteenth Corps) was on the left.
At noon the firing to the right became very heavy, the musketry was incessant, and this was very frequently punctuated with the boom of cannon. Gradually the incessant report of musketry and frequent boom of cannon crept round to the left, and in the afternoon the whole line was engaged. Toward evening the ambu- lances commenced coming in loaded with the wounded. These poor fellows had to be lifted carefully from the ambulances and laid around upon the ground till tlie surgeons could examine and care for their injuries. Two or three operating tables had been extemporized with boards ; at each of these surgeons were soon busily at work amputating legs and arms, probing wounds and otherwise operating upon the injured. The great ma- jority of injuries came from musket balls, a few came from pieces of shell, and occasionally one from a grape shot.
Nearly all were perforating wounds, though occasion- ally only a bruise was found, and this usually came from a piece of shell. Where bones of the extremities were seriously injured amputations were nearly always re- sorted to. In the case of the arm, however, especially between the shoulder and elbow, if the joints were not involved, the wound was enlarged and the ragged ends of bones pared off smoothly, the arm put in a splint, and if the case resulted fortunately, fibrous tissue first and
Torn, Wounded, A^ angled.
later a bony structure took the place of the original hard bone. This operation was called a resection, All sorts of wounds were encountered. One poor fellow was shot in the face in such a way that the whole lower jaw, was taken off ; the wound, however, was not necessarily fatal.
A bullet passed through a man's skull and into the brain cavity ; for days he lived, walked about and waited largely upon himself. He seemed dazed, however, from the first, and after awhile became stupid, helpless and died. Some that were brought in were so severely in- jured that there was no hope of doing anything for their recovery; such cases, if there seemed to be much suf- fering, were made as comfortable as possible and laid upon the ground, and the attention of the surgeons given to those whose injuries were likely to receive benefit. One poor fellow was shot somewhere in the base of the brain and, when taken out of the ambulance, one side of his face was in convulsions. His case was deemed hope- less, and he was placed upon' the ground. All night and till noon next day the convulsions continued; one eye was in constant motion, and the muscles of the same side of the face jerked and twitched in horrible contortions. But at last death came to his relief.
All were kept busy till away in the night caring for the wounded. Blankets' were spread upon the ground under the trees, and upon these, side by side, the injured ones were laid. Toward morning others of the wounded were brought in that could not be reached till nightfall pro- tected the rescuing parties from the bullets of the enemy.
The next day, May 20, was occupied in perfecting the care of the injured. Many operations were of too deli- cate a character to be performed after night ; these were made the morning following. Sometimes in the army,
100 Muskets and Medicine.
however, very delicate operations were, from necessity, performed after night. In the medical supplies were lit- tle wax candles that gave a pretty light, free from smoke and without much dripping, as from tallow candles.' When working after night a number of these ' were lighted and held for the convenience of the operator. The night after the battle of Champion's Hill I remem- ber coming upon some surgeons who were amputating at the shoulder- joint the arm of a poor fellow who had been wounded near the shoulder, Just as I came up the surgeons were turning the bone out of its socket and ad- justing the flaps. This operation, in the army, was con- sidered a very critical one, and was not often performed when other means would avail.
At the front the lines were advanced as near as pos- sible to the enemy's works, and at night the spade was used freely, thus making rifle-pits to secure protection from the enemy's bullets. The casualties were com- paratively few on the 20th and 21st of May; yet throughout both these days wounded men were from time to time brought in from the front.
Meantime preparations for the care of the wounded were made on a much more extended scale. When the trees in the 3'ard failed to give shelter from sunshine by day and dew at night, limbs heavily laden with leaves, cut from the timber nearby were laid upon poles that rested upon others set in the ground. While engaged ki this work a cannon ball came whizzing through the air and buried itself in the ground in the center of the yard. One of the men, curious to see what character of missle it was, got a shovel and excavated the ball. It proved to be a conical steel ball about two and one-half inches through and seven or eight inches long.
A Much-needed ''Cracker-line/' 101
Meanwhile full rations were now received for all, from a base of supplies established on the Yazoo River, upon Sherman's right; from this point a wagon road in the rear of the army was made, and over this were con- veyed supplies of all kinds to the troops. For a day or two after the investment, Warrenton, about six miles below Vicksburg, had been used as a base. But the new base upon the Yazoo gave direct communication with the great North and its limitless supplies' of all kinds.
CHAPTER X.
Assault and Siege of The Confederate Stronghold.
'Their's not to make reply, Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die."
— Tennyson.
At 2 P.M., May 19, an assault was made on the Con- federate works at Vicksburg. This assault was unsuc- cessful, so far as capturing the stronghold was concerned, but resulted in giving the Federals an advanced position, which position was made secure by the use of the spade the succeeding night. Believing that the Confederates would not hold out against another determined assault, a second one was ordered at 10 a.m.. May 22. This was opened by a terrific cannonade from all the Federal bat- teries ; following this was an incessant rattle of musketry.
It was known at the hospital this charge was to be made, and the constant boom of cannon and continual roll of musketry firing after 10 in the forenoon all knew would soon bring in a frightful harvest of mangled and wounded. The slain would, of course, for the time at least, be left on the field. About 2 p.m. through the trees was seen a long train of ambulances approaching, all heavily loaded with mangled humanity. Upon reach- ing the hospital grounds two or three ambulances were backed up at once, and the wounded lifted or assisted out. One of the first that I assisted in taking from the ambulance was a tall, slender man, who had received a terrible wound in the top of his head ; a minnie ball had,
(102)
Falling into the Final Sleep. 103
so to speak, plowed its way through the skull, making a ragged, gaping wound, exposing the brain for three or four inches. He lived but a moment after removal from the ambulance.
The captain^ of the company in which I enlisted was in another ambulance, mortally wounded, with a bullet in his br^^in. He lived a day or two in an unconscious stupor — a comatose state — as the doctors say. But the majority of the wounded were boys, young, brave, daring fellows, too often rash, and meeting death, or next to it, oftentimes from needless exposure.
One nice young fellow of eighteen the writer can never forget. He had been wounded in the bowels, and was sitting at the root of a large tree, resting his head against its trunk. His name was Banks, and knowing me well, he recognized me, and calling me by name, said : "Ah, I'm badly wounded." Already his lips were ashy pale, a clammy sweat was upon his face, and from the wound in his abdomen a long knuckle of intestine was protrud- ing. A few^ hours more and young Banks was resting in the sleep of death. No danger from enemy's bullets now; the poor, senseless clay, w^hich a little time before had been the dweUing-place of joyous young life, noth- ing could harm more. By the quiet form sat the father, sad and heart-broken, himself a soldier, but the balance of his term of service would seem lonely and tedious.
Arms and legs of many in the ambulances were hang- ing useless and \}nng powerless by the sides of their owners, and soon the surgeons at several tables were kept busy removing mangled and useless limbs. As on all such occasions when there were a great many wounded
1 Captain William M. Colby, 130th Illinois Infantrj' Volunteers.
104: Muskets and Medicine.
on hand at one time, but little was done for the mortally injured, save to lay them in a comparatively comfortable position ; those having mangled limbs and broken bones were first attended, while those with unextensive, simple flesh wounds were passed by till more serious cases were looked after. Judgment, however, in this direction was not always unerring, and I remember one man, with what seemed a slight wound of the foot, who was rather per-- sistent in asking immediate attention ; but the number of dangling limbs and gaping wounds calling for immediate care seemed to justify the surgeons in putting him off for a time. His case was attended to in due course, and later he was sent up the river to a large Memphis hos- pital, where, some weeks subsequently, he was infected with hospital gangrene, and died from its effects. Of course, the delay in dressing his wound weeks before had nothing to do with the untoward result, but it did bring sharp criticism upon the surgeons.
All the afternoon and till late at night on May 22 did the surgeons work with the wounded ; amputating limbs, removing ' d.ils, cleaning and washing wounds, ridding them o^ oroken pieces of bone, bandaging them up and putting them in the best shape possible. A few were bruised from stroke of spent ball or piece of shell, and recovered in a few days. Long lines of wounded now occupied the shaded places, in the yard, and to attend to the wants of these kept all busy, CarboHc acid and other" disinfectants were at that time not in use, and all wounds were at first treated with simple water dressings. Old muslin cloth or lint was saturated with cold water and applied to all fresh wounds. As soon as these began to supurate, simple cerate, a mild, soothing ointment, con- sisting of two parts of fresh lard and one of white wax,
|
aptain \\"m. M. Coin |
V. 130th Illinois |
\"okinteer |
|
Mortally wounded a |
^•lcksbu^g. Ma> |
22, 1863. |
An Unusual Wound. 105
was applied. In most bullet wounds, the ball in entering the body carried before it little pieces of the clothing, leatiier"* of the belt or cartridge box, tin of the canteens or any such substance first struck by the missile. In nearly all instances these foreign substances were dis- charged in the form of little dark-colored bits of debris. Every day the wounds were washed and freshly dressed. But, as the weather was warm, many wounds became infested with maggots. This looked horrible, bu.t was not deemed specially detrimental. Two or three days' extra work was made by the large number of wounded, resulting from the assault of May 22. After this there was a constant accession of wounded men at the hospital, but only a few at a time.
One man received a wound from some sort of a large missile that made an extensive opening at the place of entrance, the fleshy part of the thigh, in which it buried itself deeply and could not be reached. In a day or two the limb all about the wound began to assume a greenish- yellow hue, and later the m^-an died. Cutting into the wound after death revealed the presence of a copper-tap, more than an inch across, from a shell.
About a week after the siege began a young man from an Ohio regiment died from a wound, resulting from" his own imprudence. The first day of the investment, while his regiment was drawn up in line, three or four miles from the enemy's works, there being some delay in the advance, the young man got some loose powder, ran it along in a little trail, covered this with du.st and tried to fire it. As it did not ignite he was stooping over with his face close to the ground when the charge took fire. His face was badly burned, and later was attacked with er^^sipelas, from which death resulted. This seemed an
A
106 Muskets and Medicine.
inglorious way of yielding up one's life when the oppor- tunities for dying gloriously for one's country^ were so plentiful and ready at hand.
As soon as communication by the Ya2<x)- was opened up with the North, supplies in great abundance came in for the sick. In the way of eatables for the hospital were delicacies of various kinds, fruits, mild home-made wines, etc. Clothing for the sick and wounded was fur- nished in full quantities. This, for the most part, con- - sisted of cotton garments for underwear, shirts, night- shirts, drawers, gowns, etc., nearly all of bleached muslin. Cotton goods were at the time expensive in the market, from the fact that the supply of the raw material by the South was stopped for the period during which the war continued.
Nearly all these things were donated by individuals and communities. Vtry many of the garments had the name of the donor stamped upon them with stencil plate. Quite a number of the articles seen by the writer had the name, now forgotten, of a lady with postoffice address at Janesville, \^'is.
The assault of May 22 convinced all, ofucers and men alike, that \'icksburg was much more securely intrenched than had been supposed, and that the only way to capture it would be by siege. Accordingly all made up their minds to await the result patiently, but of the final fall of the stronghold no one entertained a doubt Indeed, of ultimate triumph every man seemed from the start to have full confidence.
2 The Yazoo River empties into the Mississippi just above Vicksburg, consequently boats could enter its mouth and run up stream to our troops.
Our Landlord. 107
As before stated, after settling down to siege opera- tions there were comparatively few wounded. Back of Swett's garden, under some small trees, the dead from the division hospital were buried. It was not possible to provide coffins, and so the dead were wrapped in blankets and covered over with earth — till their shallow graves were filled. As the siege progressed all the wounded and sick, who were able to be moved, were put in am- bulances and conveyed to boats on the Yazoo River, from whence they went North.
Cane grew in abundance all about, and by cutting a number of these stocks, tying them together with strings, and putting the two ends on cross-pieces resting upon stakes driven in the ground, quite comfortable and spring)^ cots were improvised for the hospital.
Swett's house had all the time been used as a place for storage of drugs and hospital supplies. Swett was a short, thick-set man with a rotund stomach and about fifty years old. He used to stand around and lean on his cane with much seeming complacency. In his yard were several bunches of fragrant jasmine in full bloom. This is a most beautiful and deliciously fragrant flower, scenting the air with its delightful odor.
In the timber all about were magnificent specimens of magnolia, having upon their branches, in May and June, long beautiful blossoms. Figs ripened in Swett's garden during the siege. These, while not liked by some when gathered fresh from the trees, by others were relished exceedingly. Thus, tree, flower and fruit lent something of their charms to assuage the horrors of war.
As soon as General Joseph E. Johnston discovered that Grant had securely invested Vicksburg, he began or- ganizing a force to relieve the garrison, This force
108 Muskets and Medicine.
sought to attack Grant's rear -on the line oi the Big Black River. 2 Grant, who by this time was receiving re- enforcements from the North, was fully on the alert, and confronted Johnston with ample force to keep the latter at a safe distance from the operations against Vicksburg.
Meanwhile, all sorts of stories were in circulation— nearly all favorable, however, to the Federals. At one time it was rumored Port Hudson, some three hundred miles down the river, had capitulated to General Banks ; at another, that the Confederates could not hold out longer; again, that Richmond was taken, and then that Washington had been captured by Lee.
Of nights the mortar boats from the river shelled Vicksburg, and sometimes, with one or more comrades, I would go out upon a high hill in front of the hospital from whence the bombardment could be seen. The mor- tar boats were, perhaps, eight miles distant, and first a flash would be seen, then the discharge of the mortar, next a streak of fire, followed by a burning fuse; this would rise away up in the air and finally descend, and, just before reaching the ground another flash, the explo- sion of the shell, broke upon the vision. Some time elapsed after the flash was seen before the report could be hear-' ^-^r-ne shells thrown by these mortar boats were of one and two hundred pounds caiiber, and all through the siege were thrown at regular intervals during the night-time.
One cannon, belonging to the Confederates, received the appellation of ''Whistling Dick." The ball from it
2 The Big Black River runs in a southwesterly direction, is some twelve miles east of Vicksburg, and a considerable distance below that stronghold, empties into the Mississippi.
Vickshiirg Siwrenders. 109
passed through the air with a pecuHar whistHng noise that could be heard by all on the southwestern aspect of the works. It was. a fine breech-loading rifled cannon of English manufacture.
Toward the latter part of June rumors of the impend- ing fall of Vicksburg pervaded the command, and later, as the National anniversary drew near, it was said a most determined assault would be made on the 4th of July. Finally, preparations for this were in progress when, on the 3d of July, word came that the Confederates had already made propositions looking toward a surrender, and next day, the 4th of July, Vicksburg, after with- standing a siege of forty-six days, capitulated.
The command, though long expecting this event, was almost wild with joy. Some surprise was, however, felt that the Confederates should have yielded on the day they did ; the belief prevailed that they had, in some way, gained an inkling of the intended assault and felt as though they could not withstand another deter- m.ied effort on the part of the Federals. Up to date this was the most important success of the war. The num- ber of men captured exceeded 30,000, with a vast quan- tity of small arms, cannon, heavy ordnance and muni- tions of. all kinds. Indeed, more men capitulated at Vicksburg than were taken in one body at any other time during the war.
A day or two after I procured a pass and visited the city. It was alive with soldiers of both armies. All upon friendly relations, swapping yarns, telling experiences, trading curiosities, as if hostile words, much less shot and shell, had never passed between them. One tall young Confederate approached me and wanted to ex- change a two-dollar Confederate note for the same
110 Aluskets and Medicine.
amount in United States currency; he said, by way of explanation, that he would, in a few days, be going home over in Louisiana on his parole and wanted the "green- back" money to show his folks. This was, most prob- ably, not true; Confederate money was wholly valueless in the Union lines, and the United States currency was doubtless wanted for immediate use.
The various places of interest about the city were visited. The several roads passing from the city, upon reaching the bluff, had roadways cut through this. In many places these cuts were twenty and thirty feet deep, and the walls of red clay perpendicular, or nearly so. But the clay composing these walls was of such tenacity that washings never occurred, and the sides of the cuts remained as durable) as if built of stone.
From the sides of these walls of clay caves were cut in which for security some of the citizens passed much of their time. I visited several of these caves, and found two or three of them carpeted and neatly furnished. Many places were seen where the immense shells from the mortar fleet struck the earth. When these failed to explode a great round hole was made in the ground, and in case of explosion after striking the ground, a large excavation was the result.
The great guns along the river front — the Columbiads of 9-, 11- and 13- inch caliber — were visited. It was these that blockaded the river and made the passing of even heavily-armored vessels hazardous. Some of the Confederate soldiers belonging to the infantry were about one of these huge guns, and one of them said within ear-shot:
"I'll bet this 'ere old cannon's killed many a blue-belly." Passing out toward the outworks a Confederate regi-
A Brief Armistice. Ill
ment, containing not many more men than a full 'com- pany, was seen draw up in line for inspection and roll- call, preparatory to completion of parole papers.
In conversation with the Confederates some said they had had enough of the war and hoped the South would make an. end of it ; others avowed their faith in ultimate success; the great majority, however, were non-commit- tal regarding their notions of final success or failure.
The rifle-pits and works of the Confederates that crossed the railway and dirt road nearby were visited. The neighborhood of the dirt road seemed especially to have been the scene of most obstinate conflict; it ran along on a ridge and the approach was particularly well guarded. The space outside the Confederate works, be- tween these and the Federal rifle-pits, was dotted all over with Union graves; if some dirt thrown over a soldier where he fell could be called a grave.
A day or two after the assault the Union dead were buried under a flag of truce. The weather being very warm, before this was attended to, decomposition had,, already begun and the consequent stench would soon grow intolerable. Under these circumstances both armies readily agreed to a short armistice for disposition of the dead. The time allowed was too short for regular inter- ment, hence dirt was thrown over the dead bodies where they lay, and in cases where they could be identified, a piece of board put at the head, upon which, in rude let- ters, were the names and commands of the fallen ones.
Wherever an elevation inter\^ened between the Union lines and Confederate works the tracks of bullets through the grass and weeds were surprisingly thick and crossed and cris-crossed each other in various directions, and at one point there was hardly an inch of space but what
112 Muskets and Medicine.
had thus been marked. This was near the Jackson dirt road, where the Confederates had an enfilading fire and used it to most deadly advantage.
Immediately upon the fail of Vicksburg, an expedition was started against General Joe Johnston who, during the siege, had been threatening Grant from the rear and on the line of the Big Black River. Under a broiling July sun the Union soldiers took up the line of march and followed the Confederates under Johnston to Jack- son, Miss., to which, for a time, they laid siege. Finally, however, realizing that he was outnumbered, General Johnston evacuated his works a.t Jackson and permitted the Federals to take possession for a second time within two months.
Meanwhile, with the regimental surgeon I was assigned to duty at the Thirteenth Corps Hospital, which was in the near vicinity of a farmhouse, though the sick and wounded were in tents and ever}^ing needed for their comfort and care was on a much more commodious scale than had been possible at the Division Hospital, where I was on duty during the whole fort}^-five days of the siege. One peculiar method of prescribing was in vogue here : A number of f a\"orite prescriptions for sundr}^ diseases were put up in quantity and each given a number; consequently, instead of having to write out a prescription and having it put up separately the surgeon had ^ it to designate a given number, and in short order the /atient would have the desired remedy.
Lairing this period I, from time to time, secured a pass and visited Vicksburg, which was gradually settling down to the new order of things. The wharf at the river front, very soon after the Federal occupation, assumed a busy aspect. Steamboats with all needed supplies came down
A Remarkable Adventure. 113
the river, I came near saying, in- fleets. Many visitors came from the North, some to see friends in the army, some to see the newly-captured stronghold, some to look up new fields for trade and speculation, and some came on the sad mission of, if possible, finding the bit of earth that hid from view the remains of fallen loved ones.
General Logan, who commanded witliin the limits of \'icksburg after its surrender, had his headquarters in the Court House, which, from its location on a high hill, was a conspicuous object. Over the dome of the Court House floated the flag of the 45th Illinois Infantry Volunteers, an organization that was given the advance when General Logan's Division entered \'icksburg after its surrender and took possession. The 45th Illinois was thus honored because its members, many of whom were miners, had, during the siege, performed a great deal of duty of an exceptionally hazardous nature.
Toward the end of the siege, J. W. Spurr, Company B, 145th Illinois Infantr}^ Volunteers, becam.e the hero of a most remarkable adventure. He, somehow, man- aged to get possession of an old Confederate uniform. and going to the Mississippi Ri^-er at the extreme left of our lines went in the w^ater during a heavy rainstorm after night and swam no:nh, past the pickets of both friend and foe. Then, upon going ashore he at once went to som.e Confederates who were gathered about a campnre and engaged them in conversarion. Later he left them and went to a house and asked for something to eat which was refused in consequence of the fact that, at that particular time, eatables in Vicksburg were at a vtry high premium. Finally, however, with the per- suasive influence of a five-dollar bill both food and lodg- ina: for the time beins" were secured.
114: Muskets and Medicine.
Young Spurr's hostess vas an Irish woman, who was found to be a Union syi ipathizer, and who proved her fidelity by warning her guest that he was being watched. Consequently, after spending three days in the beleag- uered city the daring adventurer, after night, found his way to the river's bank south of the city, went in the water and swam and floated down past the pickets of foe and friend alike, and upon reaching the Union lines was promptly arrested, but upon estabHshing his identity was as promptly released.
It is, perhaps, not too much to say that this feat had few, if indeed any, parallels in either army during the whole period of the Gvil War's four years' history. That an eighteen-year-old boy, on his own intiative and impelled by nothing save curiosity and innate dare-devil- try, should plan, undertake and successfully execute such a^ hazardous feat as that of young Spurr, is hard to be- lieve. As to credibility, however, the reader can rest assured that the above is absolutely true, and can be verified by| the best of evidence. J. W. Spurr, the hero of the adventure, is a well-preserved veteran, and has his home in Rock Island, 111.
CHAPTER XI.
Running The Vicksburg Batteries.
"You should have seen him as he trod The deck, our joy and pride."
— Selected.
Second in interest only to the operations of the Army of the Tennessee in the Vicksburg campaign was that of the Mississippi Flotilla under Commodore Porter, whose achievements were, for the most part, coincident and co-operative with those of the land force.
Of special interest was the passing of the Confederate batteries at Viclcsburg some months prior to the fall of that stronghold. For a year or more preceding the lat- ter event, De Soto, La., the terminus of the Vicksburg & Shreveport Railway had been in the possession of the Federals; consequently, the rich tribute to the Confed- eracy of corn and cattle from Western Louisiana and Texas came, for the most part, down the Red River by steamboat, and thence up the Mississippi to Natchez, Grand Gulf and Vicksburg, or below to Port Hudson, and from these points was distributed throughout the South.
To destroy the vessels plying in this service became, in the early part of 1863, a cherished object wnth the Fed- erals. With this end in view, Colonel Charles R. Ellet was ordered to run the Vicksburg baitteries with the ram Queen of the West. This vessel was not built originally for the naval service, but was a strong fleet freight steamer. Her prow had been strengthened and armed with a strong iron beak, her boilers and machinery were
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116 Muskets and Medicine.
protected with three hundred bales of cotton, and she was armed with both heavy and light pieces of artillery, a full complement of rifles, pistols and cutlasses, and, beside her crew, had aboard twenty-six soldiers.
Lying under the Vicksburg batteries was a Confed- erate transport, The City of Vicksburg, whose destruc- tion was named as one of Ellet's first errands. Early in the morning of February 2, 1863, the Queen of the West passed round tlie bend, and under a full head of steanr, made for the Confederate vessel tied to the wdiarf in front of the city, for which she was named. The s-trong beak of the Queen struck the City of Vicksburg with terrific force, but the great projection of the guards of tlie latter protected her hull and prevented the infliction of \ntal injury. Meantime, the current swept the stem of the Queen around so that she came alongside the transport, when a full broadside of turpentine balls was discharged into the City of Vicksburg. But as the fire from the Confederates had, meanwhile, grown warm and had already set on fire bales of cotton upon the Queen, this vessel continued on down the river wliile the burning bales were thrown overboard before the flames did other damage.
The Queen had the good fortune to destroy on tliis expedition three Confederate transports, but running short of fuel in about a week, she returned up the river. From the fleet above, a barge of coal was set afloat one evening that reached the Queen in safety.
On the 10th of February Colonel Ellet again started dowr the river, taking with him as tender, the De Soto, a sn .11 vessel captured by the soldiers on the Louisiana side of the river just below Vicksburg. This vessel had formerly been used as a ferr}^boat between De Soto, the
Running the Batteries. H'^
terminus of the Vicksburg S: Shreveport Railroad, and Vicksburg. The Red River was entered and a small steamboat, the Era^ captured from the Confederates. Further up this stream was a small Confederate work. Fort Taylor; this the Queen designed to destroy, but had the misfortune to run aground when within point-blank range of the enemy's guns, and in such a position as to render her own cannon unavailable. Under the circum- stances there seemed nothing left for Ellet and his men but to abandon the Queen and endeavor to float down on cotton bales to the De Soto, one mile below. This was successfully done, but the De Soto, from some accident to her steering apparatus, became unmanageable, and had to be abandoned and blown up.
Meantime, all hands had gone aboard the captured vessel, the Era^ but as she was in a damaged condition, poor progress was made against the rapid current of the ]\lississippi, when that river was reached. But all haste possible was made, as it was known the swift and power- ful Confederate gunboat Webb was only :sixty miles up Red River, and would probably pursue. There was no fuel available but wet cypress wood and ears of com, and consequently poor time was made. A vessel was now descried which proved to be the powerful Federal gun- boat Indianola. The latter came alongside the Era, fur- nishing her with fuel and other necessaries. Meantime, a vessel hove in sight from below, that turned out to be the Confederate gunboat Webb in pursuit of the Era. The latter was dispatched up the river and the Indianola^ gave chase to the Webb, but this vessel evaded her pur- suer.
The Indianola had run the Vicksburg batteries the night of Februar}' 13. At the appointed time all lights
118 Muskets and Medicine.
were turned down, and with no motion from her wheels, she drifted down in the darkness with the current and almost touched the levee at Vicksburg. Lights were burning all over the city, men were passing all about and a chain of guards were on duty next the w^ater's edge. All these were talking, and the sound of their voices was plainly heard on the Indianola. Presently, however, a soldier on duty near a lighted fire saw a dark, moving- mass on the water and discharged his piece; this was followed by many musket shots, and the Indianola, now putting on steam, became a target for the gunners beside the heavy Columbiads at the edge of the bluff. She, however, received but little damage, and passed on down the river, and rescued the Era, as before narrated. After this the mouth of the Red River was reached, and this stream ascended for a time, when it was learned the Queen of the West had undergone repairs at the hands of the Confederates,' and might be expected down at any time. As the latter vessel, with the Webh, would be more than a match for the hidianola, this gunboat turned about, ran down to the mouth of Red River, and from thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Big Black River. The last-mentioned stream it was designed to enter and ascend as far as the Vicksburg & Jackson Rail- way Bridge, which structure it was the intention to destroy.
Toward night of February 24 two vessels approached ^ from below, which proved to be the Confederate gunboat Webb, and ram, Queen of the West. The Indianola re- treated up the river to near New Carthage, when she turned about to attack her antagonists. The Confederate vessels contrived to ram the Indianola a number of times, till she was reduced to a sinkino- condition and
A Most Efficient ''Dummy," 119
was run ashore and surrendered. The Federal vessel thus last was one of the best on the river and had been built but a short time,
The Queen of the West ascended the river as far as Warrenton, to serve as a sort of picket to the Confed- erate navy. Meantime, the Confederates were making strenuous efforts to raise and refit the Indianola. Two or three days after the surrender of the latter vessel, the Wehh came hurrying down the river with orders for the Indianola to be blown up at once, as a powerful Federal gunboat had run the Vicksburg batteries, and was now on her way down^ the river, bent on the capture and de- struction of all Confederate craft. As soon as this message was delivered the Indianola was blown up and the Queen retreated up Red River, whither she was pre- ceded by the rest of the Confederate fleet.
But what of the terrible gunboat that created so much consternation with the Confederates, causing them to re- tire their movable vessels up Red River and blow up the superb Indianola?
A few days prior to this action by the Confederates Commodore Porter had fitted up the hulk of an old fiat- boat in imitation of a gunboat. Pork barrels were piled up in the form of smokestacks, and through them poured quantities of smoke from mud furnaces beneath. A dark coat of paint and some further imitation work made the resemblance to a gunboat complete, and one dark night this dummy was set adrift in the current of the river just above Vicksburg. The Confederate batteries fired at her with much vigor, but some way all missed the mark, and the "gimboat" of such powerful aspect passed by unharmed; and by the Star of the West, word was hurriedly sent down the river for the destruction of the
120 Muskets and Medicine.
Indianola. Two months later the Queen of the West was blown up to obviate falling into Federal hands, and about the time the Confederacy was going to pieces in April,' 1865, the Webb, loaded with cotton, ran out of Red River, tlience down the Mississippi, past several gunboats and even past New Orleans, but being at last intercepted by the Brooklyn, ran ashore and was set on fire.
The daring of this adventure of the Webb excited much interest at the time in General Canby's department.
About the middle of Alarch, 1863, Commodore Farra- gut succeeded in passing the Port Hudson batteries with two of his vessels, and about a week later communicated from just below Vicksburg with Commodore Porter's fleet just above. Needing some re-enforcements in the way of vessels, Farragut asked for some from the fleet of Porter. Early on the morning of March 25, Colonel Charles R. Ellet, with the Switzerland, and Lieutenant- Colonel John A. Ellet, with the Lancaster, ran the Vicks- burg batteries. The Switzerland was destroyed, but most of her crew escaped on cotton bales. The Laticas- ter succeeded in passing, but in a much damaged condi- tion.
The passage of the Vicksburg batteries by a fleet of gunboats and transports the night of April 16, and by another the night of April 22, has been elserwhere re- ferred to. The success of these attempts greatly facili- tated the carrying out of Grant's plans in his operations against Vicksburg. Indeed, in nearly all General Grant's important battles and campaigns in the West he leaned heavily upon the navy, and it ever gave him cheerful and timely support.
Major George W. Kennard. late Comniander of the iicamer "Korizon," which ran the A'icksbur; batteries on the night of ADril 22. 1S63.
Captain Kemiard's Report. 121
One of the vessels which ran the Vicksburg blockade, the Horizon, was commanded by Captain George W. Kennard of the 20th Illinois Infantry. Captain Kennard volunteered immediately after Fort Sumter was fired on, and served continuously till the war ended, four years later. He was severely wounded at Fort Donelson, attained the rank of Major before the war ended; is now (1917) a finely preserved octogenarian, and resides in Champaign, III, where he enrolled his name as a volun- teer, now about fifty-six years ago. Following is his report of what transpired while he was in command of the Horizon:
Steamer Horizon, New Carthage, Louisiana, April 23, 1863.
Colonel : — I have the honor to report that, in compliance with Special Orders, No. Ill, Headquarters Department of the Ten- nessee, the steamer Hoi'izon, leaving Milliken's Bend at 9 p.m., 22d inst., steamed down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo River, where she remained in the channel until signaled to pass the Vicksburg batteries, then steamed slowly down to the bend, where she put on a full head of steam. In passing the first battery she received two shots, one through her derrick and one through her smokestack, larboard side. At the second bat- tery she received two shots through her bulkhead. At the next battery she received two shots on hurricane deck, and, in all, while under fire, passing Vicksburg batteries, about fifteen or sixteen shots, all forward and above boiler deck, except one through her cabin midships. When arriving below our pickets, she hailed the steamer Moderator and found she was disabled, and attempted to go to her assistance, but being unable to reach her, passed down to within two miles o-f the Warrenton Battery, and landed where the flag-ship had gone down, at which time the Anglo-Saxon was seen floating by in a disabled condition. The Horizon, being ordered to bring her in, followed her till within range of Warrenton Battery, drawing their fire, while the Anglo- Saxon floated by almost unnoticed, when she returned to the Tigress, and was ordered to pass Warrenton Battery and report at New Carthage.
122 Muskets and Medicine.
At daylight, the Horizon had passed the battery, it firing seven- teen rounds, none doing any damage except the last, which struck the wheel rudder, larboard side, damaging it considerably. When out of range of Warrenton Battery, the Horizon came up with the Anglo-Saxon, took her in tow, and floated down within signahng distance of New Carthage, and having given the proper signals, cut loose from the Anglo-Saxon, which was then taken in tow by steamer Silver Wave, sent out from New Carthager The Horizon then steamed up and reported to General J. A. McClernand, at New Carthage.
The only casualty on board the Horizon was Private (George) McElvain, Company B, Twenty-third Indiana, slightly wounded in the head.
I am pleased to say that, while we were under fire, every man was at his post, doing his duty. Each is desenang credit for coolness and good conduct. I take great pleasure in recommend- ing to you for favor the names of Lieutenant James D. Vernay.. Eleventh Illinois Infantry, Lieutenant Jesse Roberds, Twenty- first Illinois Infanty, Nathan Collins, Second Indiana Cavalry, and James H. Cuers, Twenty-third Indiana Infantry, each of whom stood at his post and discharged his duties while under fire with a coolness and courage which deserves much praise. Pilots Collins and Curts, and P. Vancil, Thirty-first Illinois In- fantry, mate, are each of them experienced river men, and are also trusty and reliable.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
G. W. Kennard,
Captain Twentieth Illinois, Commanding Steamer Horizon. Col. Clark B. Lagow, Commanding Fleet.
CHAPTER XII. Personnel of Our Hospital Staff.
"In the multitude of counselors there is safety."
— SOLOMAN.
''By medicine may life be prolonged, Yet death will seize the doctor."
— Shakespeare.
The infantry Civil War regiment was made up of ten companies of about a hundred men each, so that the larger organization contained about one thousand men. However, most of the newly-formed regiments totaled about nine hundred. One Colonel, one Lieutenant-Col- onel and one Major made up the field officers; and the Quartermaster, Chaplain,- Adjutant, Surgeon, First As- sistant Surgeon and Second Assistant Surgeon comprised the stall officers. The Surgeon had the rank of Major, and to designate this wore a gold leaf on either shoulder strap. The First Assistant Surgeon ranked as Captain, and had four bars on either shoulder strap. The Second Assistant Surgeon had the rank of First Lieutenant, and wore two bars on his shoulder straps.
Our Regimental Surgeon, Dr. L. K. Wilcox, came to us from Warsaw, III, then an important Mississippi River town, where he practised his profession. He was an Irishman, small in stature, with a red face, reddish hair and sandy moustache. He was about thirt>^-five years of age, a graduate of Missouri Medical College, now identified with Washington ' University, where he had for a classmate, and which he took pride in telling, the celebrated Rosa Bonheur, later the distinguished
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124 Muskets and Medicine.
painter of animals, It was long before the day of co- education of the sexes, consequently, it was very much out of the usual to have a woman in attendance upon medical lectures.
Dr. Wilcox, notwithstanding his inferior stature, was dignified ; had a good deal' of executive ability and man- aged his department with no little skill. He was, fur- thermore, an eminently practical man, and operated with a considerable degree of dexterity.
He was always neatly dressed, was an inveterate smoker, and had a very full under lip, which not infre- quently assumed a sort of pouting aspect, and which I can close my eyes and see as plainly as if the protuberant member was before me, although it was fifty-three years ago that it was first photographed on the tablets of my memory.
Dr. Wilcox was a devout Catholic, and always crossed himself before partaking of food. He did this so adroitly, however, that the uninitiated were none the wiser.
Dr. David Wilkins was our First Assistant Surgeon. His home was in Greenville, Bond County, 111., where he left a growing family and a good practice to sen^e his country. He was a graduate of the Medical Department of the University of Mi'chigan, was about forty years of age, and was better versed in his profession than most physicians of that day. He was of the average height, but was slender and, consequently, looked taller than he really was. Dr. Wilkins was a quiet, modest man who had little to say. He, however, commanded the respect of all, and his friends always thought he should have had a position of full surgeon. In the fall of 1863, after giv- ing us most excellent service, he resigned from our regi-
Ou7' Surgeons. 125
ment and became surgeon of a colored organization with the rank of Major.
Our first Second Assistant Surgeon was a Dr. Barry, who met with bad kick not long after joining our regi- ment. As elsewhere noted, on our first trip down the Mississippi River to Memphis, Tenn., in the fall of 1862, one of our men, who had a slight ailment, died very suddenly, and Dr. Barry was, by some, said to have been responsible for this. But, whatever may have been the truth of this report, he very soon after resigned and "re- turned to civil life.
Not long after reaching Memphis, late in 1862, as before narrated, our regiment sufifered from a great deal of sickness, and our medical department was worked to the limit, but through it all we had no Second Assistant Surgeon. However, about June 1, 1863, while we were in the thick of the Vicksburg Siege, one came to us. This was Dr. W. F. Sigler, whose home was in Flora, Clay County, 111. Dr. Sigler was six feet tall, well formed, and must have weighed more than two hundred pounds, consequently he was "dubbed" the "heavy- weight" of the Hospital department. He wore side whiskers (Bumsides), and always kept his chin and upper lip clean-shaven. He was a thoughtful man, well on towards forty years of age, intelligent, but was not a medical graduate. In his professional work he had some set-phrases, and one of these I shall never forget. Fre- quently when a soldier consulted him and would ask why he had this, that or the other symptom, Dr. Sigler would answer by saying: "O, that is owing to the debilitated condition of your system." The very next patient would Avant to know why he felt so and so, and out would come the sajne stereotyped reply, "O, that is owing to the de-
126 Muskets and Medicine.
bilitated condition of your system." And so on, from patient to patient, and from day to day this "canned" (professional?) opinion was made to do service.
As said above, the Surgeon, First Assistant Surgeon and Second Assistant Surgeon, had respectively, the rank of Major, Captain and First Lieutenant, were commis- sioned by the Governor of the State and were hence known as commissioned officers. All officers below a second lieutenant received warrants signed by the Col- onel, and were hence called 7:on-<:ommissioned officers. One of the highest ranking non-commissioned officers was the Hospital Steward, who with the Sergeant-Major, Commissary- Sergeant and Quartermaster-Sergeant com- prised the now-commissioned staff of the regiment.
While our surgeons were fully up to the average in ability and attainments, yet they had never so much as seen a hypodermic syringe, a fever thermometer or a trained nurse; for the very good and sufficient reason that none of these were in existence. And that they had never so much as heard of an X-ray machine or a blood- pressure apparatus, goes without the saying, for the com- ing of these was, as yet, many years in the future. But, notwithstanding, these limitations "there were giants in those days." There were such internalists as Austin Flint, of New York; George B. Wood, of Philadelphia; N. S. Davis, of Chicago, and others of equal note — great teachers, all of them. And there were such surgeons as Valentine Mott, of New York ; S. D. Gross, of Philadel- phia; Moses Gunn, of Detroit; Daniel Brainard, of Chi- cago ; Reuben D. Mussey, of Cincinnati ; John T. Hod- gen, of St. Louis, and others of their kind. And all of whom had taught the medical men, who, with their regiments, were at the front. Yet, not one of these able
A Student of Medicine. 127
men knew anything of the germ theory of diseases, and, perhaps, had never so much as heard of the term hcic- teriology,
These facts being true, what wonder is it that the Civil War Regimental Surgeon knew nothing of asepsis and antisepsis, and that he was totally ignorant of the true nature of infection and' devoid of knowledge to pre- vent its spread ? True, Joseph Lister, then at Edinburgh, Scotland, was doing pioneer work in the field of asepsis and antisepsis, but his efforts had, as yet, been given no recognition. True, Pasteur had begun his era-making work in demonstrating the fact that germs were the true seeds of disease, and were ever and incessantly active in its spread, but the world had not yet heard; and of those who did hear, the most' did not heed.
Our first Hospital Steward was James M. Miller, of Greenville, 111., where he had served an apprenticeship in his father's drug store, and where he now resides' and has the reputation of being the wealthiest man in his count}^ As Ward Master of the Regimental Hospital I served a sort of apprenticeship under Hospital Steward Miller, and later, when he saw fit to become a commis- sioned officer in a colored regiment, I succeeded to his position. This was not because I was as well qualified for the place as I should have been, but because I was the best fitted for it of anyone who was available. I had had a little Latin, a little chemistry, a little physics, a little higher mathematics before joining the army, and very shortly after I entered I began familiarizing myself with drugs and chemicals^ and with such other duties as might fall to the lot of a hospital attache. Indeed, I studied so hard that sometimes things became confused in my mind. A condition not always any too safe to
128 Muskets and Medicine.
work under, as my experience with our C(X)k, as narrated in another chapter, will show.^
We had a few medical books, among which I recall 'Tareria's Materia Medica," "Mendenhall's Vade Me- cum," a work on chemistry; "Parishes' Pharmacy," and "Gray's .Anatomy," then a new work just out. The illustrations in Gray were a very great improvement on all that had gone before, and consequently this work took, and long held, a high place among medical publica- tions.
But few as were the books and many as were the handicaps, I, then and there, began the study of medi- cine, and, on the w^hole, I never before or since passed any happier days, and I really worked and studied with no little enthusiasm.
See Chapter XIV.
Charles B. Johnson, age 21. Hospital Steward, 130th IlHnois Infantry Volunteers.
TO MY COMRADES WHO WORE THE BLUE,
AND TO OTHER FRIENDS,
SOME OF WHOM WORE THE GRAY,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.
CHAPTER XIII.
Equipment, Work, and Some Attaches of Our Regimental Hospital.
"A mighty arsenal to subdue disease, Of various names, whereof I mention these: Lancets and bougies, great and little squirt. Rhubarb and senna, snakeroot, thoroughwort — "
— Oliver Wendell Holmes.
In the field the Regimental Hospital department was allowed two small tents for the officers, medicines, etc. ; another small tent for the kitchen department and sup- plies, and a larger one for the sick. This last, known as the hospital tent, was about fourteen feet square and was capable of containing eight cots with as many patients.
In the field we almost never had sheets and white pil- low cases, but made use of army blankets that were made of the coarsest, roughest fiber imaginable. In warm weather the walls of the tent were raised, which made it much more pleasant for the occupants.
However, the policy that obtained was to send those who were not likely to recover quickly to the base hos- pitals, though this was not always to the patient's best interests, for these larger hospitals were oftentimes cen- ters of infection of one kind or another, especially, of hospital gangrene, which seldom attacked the wounded in the field.
During a campaign our stock of medicines was neces- sarily limited to standard remedies, among which could be named opium, morphine, Dover's powder, quinine, rhubarb, Rochelle salts, Epsom salts, castor oil, sugar of
9 (129)
%
130 Muskets and Medicine. :■-,
lead, tannin, sulphate of copper, sulphate of zinc, cam- phor, tincture of opium, tincture of iron, tincture opii, camphorata, syrup of squills, simple syrup, alcohol, whiskey, brandy, port wine, sherry wine, etc. Upon going into camp, where we were likely to remain a few days, these articles w^ere unpacked and put on temporary shelves made from box-lids; and, on the other hand, when marching orders came, the medicines were again packed in boxes, the bottles protected from breaking by old papers, etc.
Practically all the medicines were administered in powder form or in the liquid state. Tablets had not yet come into use, and pills were very far from being as plentiful as they are today. The result was that most powders were stirred in water and swallowed. In the case of such medicine as quinine, Dover's powder, tannin, etc., the dose, thus prepared, was a bitter one. The bro- mides, sulfonal, trional and similar soporifices and seda- tives, had not come in use, and asafetida, valerian and opium and its derivatives were about all the Civil War surgeon had to relieve nervousness and induce sleep.
Among the surgical supplies were chloroform, ether, brandy, aromatic spirits of ammonia, bandages, adhesive plaster, needles, silk thread for ligatures, etc. There were, also, amputating cases well supplied with catlins, artery forceps, bone forceps, scalpels, scissors, bullet ^probes, a tourniquet, etc. But while all the instruments were washed in water and wiped dry to keep from rust- ing, such an idea as making them aseptic never entered the head of the most advanced surgeon.
There was an emergency case, about the size of a sol- dier's knapsack, and, indeed, intended to be carried on an attendant's back like a knapsack. In this emergency
''Laudable Pusr 131
case were bandages, adhesive plaster, needles, arter}' for- ceps,- scalpels, spirits of ammonia, brandy, chloroform, ether, etc. This emergency case, or hospital knapsack, was always taken with the regiment when the firing-line was about to be approached, and where the First As- sistant Surgeon was in charge and was ready to render first aid to any who might be wounded.
This first aid, however, never went further than staunching bleeding vessels and applying temporary dressings. Thus attended to, the wounded were taken to an ambulance, and in this conveyed to the field hos- pital in the rear, generally out of musket range, but almost never beyond the reach of shells and cannon balls.
Arrived at the larger field hospital the patient was cared for by the surgeons and male nurses. The wounds were examined and dressed, but never antiseptically, for no one knew the importance of antisepsis or how to puit it in practise ; consequently, every wound sup- purated, and so-called laudable pus was welcomed by those in charge as an indication that the patient had reached one of the mile-posts that had to be passed on his road to recovery. Careful handwashing and nail scrubbing were never practised before operations or in dressing recent wounds. And yet, for the most part, the wounds in the end healed satisfactorily. The fact that those receiving them were, in the great ma- jority of cases, vigorous young men had much to do with the good results. Here it may be proper to say that in the Civil War by far the largest proportion of wounds were made with bullets from what were called minnie balls. These were fired, in most instances, from single- shooters and muzzle-loaders, such as the Springfield rifled musket, the Enfield rifled musket, the Austrian
132 Muskets and Medicine.
rifled musket, etc. These bullets weighed an ounce or more, and the guns from which they were fired would kill a man nearly a mile away, and that they produced large, ugly wounds goes without saying.
When a minnie ball struck a bone it almost never failed to fracture and shatter the contiguous bony struc-