The
next morning Company B was detailed to go on picket, posted about a mile from
camp, with orders to allow no one to pass the lines without a written pass from
headquarters. A great many soldiers
were already outside of the lines, foraging on their own account, and when they
returned they were arrested and kept under guard until morning. Before the pickets were relieved, they had
taken quite a pile of pumpkins, chickens, etc., but most of the plunder was
permitted to be taken along back to camp.
While
we were in camp at this place, our sutler arrived, and the boys were very glad
to see him. It had been several weeks
since he was with us. His arrival produced great excitement in the regiment and
brigade. All the regiments in the
brigade wanted to buy from him, but our lieutenant colonel posted a guard
around his wagon, with orders to allow none but the Eighty-first men to buy
from him. This created an unfriendly feeling in the other regiments, and they
said they would clean him out, but one of our boys jumped up in the wagon and
offered to fight any one of them that wanted to pitch in. We expected a fight, but things cooled down
among them, and the sutler was not molested.
The regiment had a jolly time that night, for it had been a long time
since the sutler was with us.
Before
we left this camp we had quite a heavy fall of snow, which made things look
winterish. Orders were received to be
ready to move, and pretty soon we were on the road again for another long and
tiresome March. Our destination was
supposed to be Bowling Green. We
reached there the last week in October, having been six days on the march. We marched to the outskirts of the town and
went into camp. How long we were to
remain we could not tell. Clothing was
issued to the regiment at this place, for some of the men stood in great need
of it. Shortly afterward a very large
number of men were sent to the hospital, which reduced the regiment
considerably.
On
November 4, we left Bowling Green to march to Nashville, Tenn.. While on the march, we heard that General
Buell had been relieved of the command of the army, and General Rosecrans was
to take his place. We camped one night
at Tyree Springs, a place built for the comfort of pleasure seekers, but now
deserted. It must be a delightful. place
in summer, making a fine place for a camp on account of the good and pure water. The next day, marching from this place, our
advance was attacked by guerrillas who were posted, in the mountains on the
left of the road. Our regiment was
ordered to double quick, which was done in excellent style, and we were very
soon near the scene of the fight. A few
companies of the regiment in advance were deployed as skirmishers, and they
very soon made the enemy decamp. There were several killed and wounded on the
enemy's side. No one was hurt on our side. The sutler wagon of the Twenty-fifth
Illinois was captured, but was re-taken before they got anything from it. While the skirmishing was going on, some of
our skirmishers climbed a very high hill to flank the enemy. Our lieutenant colonel, mistaking them for
the enemy, one of our batteries opened on them and threw a few shells, when an
orderly rode up, crying out that they were our own men, and to stop firing,
which was done immediately. Nearly all
of the boys knew they were our men, but our lieutenant colonel thought
different and ordered the battery to fire on them. It created a good deal of talk in the regiment for a long time
afterward.
We
were ordered to move forward again. The
air was pretty chilly, so we marched fast.
Toward evening we came in sight of the city of Nashville, Tenn., which
we were all anxious to see. Our arrival
had opened the city again to the outside world, as the enemy kept our men who
had garrisoned the place pretty close to their works. We went into camp at a little town called Edgefield, on the
opposite side of the river from Nashville.
We were glad to get into camp to rest, for the last day's march was very
severe on us. A great many of the boys
bad sore feet, and they had to limp most of the way. In the morning we moved farther toward the river, and put up our
tents in regular cam style, it being the first chance for a good while.
The
day before we arrived the men had a skirmish with the enemy, who burned the
railroad shops and some cars and then hurried off. A part of our army marched over to Nashville and camped outside
of the city, while others remained on this side of the river. A few days after we arrived the enemy
destroyed a tunnel on the Louisville and Nashville railroad, which caused quite
a delay in transacting business between Nashville and Louisville. The mails and rations had to be wagoned
thirty. Miles from Mitchell, which
point was as far as railroad trains could go.
Still we had plenty of rations, and did not want for anything. It took our wagon trains four days to go and
return from Mitchell. The boys were now impatient for our sutler to arrive, and
he was expected every day. Here we had
plenty of drilling to do, besides fatigue duty of all kinds. Our captains
drilled us daily, and we had battalion and regimental drill as well as brigade
drill during the week. Our sutler arrived a few weeks afterward, and the boys
were delighted. While we were there a
great many of the friends of the boys in the regiment called to see them.
Rumors
began to circulate again that we would move soon. On the twenty-sixth orders came to march, but they were
countermanded, so we fixed up our tents again.
When General Rosecrans assumed command of the army, October 24, 1862,
the regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade, First Division of the
Fourteenth Army Corps, Major General McCook commanding, Major General Jeff. C.
Davis commanding the division, and Colonel Wm,. E. Woodruff commanding the
brigade, consisting of the Twenty--fifth and Thirty-fifth Illinois,
Eighty-first Indiana and the Eighth Wisconsin Battery.
General
McCook, our commander, belongs, as every one knows, to a fighting family, and
when an opportunity offers no lack of generalship or, courage will cause a
reverse to our army. General Jeff. C. Davis, our division commander, as we well
know, is a native Hoosier, and has already written his name high on the roll of
fame by his skill and gallantry during the war. He is one on whom the army can rely in any emergency that may
occur. General Woodruff, our brigade
commander, is pretty well known, having served as an officer in the Mexican
war; he is a thorough tactician, a strict disciplinarian and of undoubted
courage - just the man to lead the brigade, and is perfectly idolized by the
men.
Our
camp life was the same every day, varied with little change in picket and
fatigue duty. We received marching
orders again on the evening of December 3, 1862, so next morning we struck
tents and packed up. We felt sorry to leave our camp, as we had begun to like
the place right well. We marched from our camp and crossed the Cumberland River
on a pontoon bridge, marched through the city and out on the Franklin turnpike
for about seven miles, when we filed to the left into a strip of woods a short
distance from the road, and went into camp; the ground being marked off, we put
up our tents and were soon fixed up for housekeeping
We
had a heavy fall of snow the second day after we came here. This was a beautiful place to camp in, fine
large trees all around us, and the ground was nice and clean. Our quarters were
policed regular every morning, the companies being formed into messes. Each mess had a non-commissioned officer
appointed to see that the men obeyed all orders issued from headquarters. At this time the weather was pretty cold and
severe. Some of the boys had old camp
kettles hung in their tents, which they would fill with live coals, warming up
the tents very well - sometimes it made them too warm. We received new clothing after we came here. As guard and picket duty was pretty heavy,
most all the boys drew overcoats, if nothing else; nearly every other day our,
regiment's turn came for guard on picket duty, and sometimes they had to stay
on duty thirty-six hours, during which time, of course, out of rations, some of
the boys eating walnuts and parched corn till they got back to camp. Our picket lines were advanced further out,
and in relieving the pickets they forget some of them, which was the cause of
their remaining out so long, and this made picket duty a great bore sometimes.
The officer of the day was constantly around the lines, and at night there was
no telling when the grand rounds would pay us a visit, consequently we could
hardly get to sleep before some one would call out, "Roll out, here comes
the grand rounds."' All the
reserve would jump up, half asleep, rush to the gun stack, get their guns and
fall in line, if possible, before the grand-rounds would arrive within
saluting, distance. During the day, while part of one of the companies was on a
picket post, the reserve were out in a field hunting and chasing rabbits. The
officer of the day came around, and arrived at the post while the boys were
running as hard as they could to get there before him. The alarm was given that he was coming, but
some were so far off they could not get there in time. The officer took it in good part, but
remarked to the lieutenant that he should be more careful in the future and not
let the reserve scatter out so much.
The lieutenant felt bad about it, but that night there was such an
uproar on the picket line that some of us went out to ascertain the cause. There were some of the boys whistling,
singing and cutting up generally along their beats - quite a ludicrous picket
line, truly, with the enemy not far, off.
Soon that was stopped, and everything got quiet and orderly.
On
our way back, we met couriers riding very fast, clearing the road. They were shouting that the general was
advancing. We met several squads of,
cavalry trotting along, and in a few moments General Rosecrans and staff
approached. His staff was dressed very
fine, in fact, much finer than the general. We took the right side of the road,
and as we marched past we brought our guns to a shoulder, giving him a marching
salute. One of his staff rode close to
us, and inquired who we were. Our
lieutenant replied that we were pickets, relieved and returning, to camp. The
boys were much pleased with the appearance of our general.
While
we remained in camp, our regiment and brigade went out on several scouts in the
direction of the enemy. On December15,
I862, our brigade went on a foraging expedition, leaving camp at daylight in
the morning. The day was cloudy, but not
very cold, we marched about six miles and then halted, while our wagons
drove into a large field on the right of the road and up to some barns and
outhouses, and the boys commenced filling the wagons right away. While some were doing this, the companies
were posted away in advance, and on the right and left of the road to give the
alarm in case of danger. One company
was posted to watch the rear. A great
deal of caution was used, as this ground was used by both parties for
foraging. Before the wagons were all
loaded it began to rain, and rained very hard, but we had to stand and take
it. Some of the men took shelter under
trees for awhile, but it did not do much good.
As soon as the wagons were loaded, we started back to camp. Part of the brigade marched in front and the
balance in the rear. It rained very
hard all the way back, and when we got to camp we were completely soaked,
through. A more dismal set of men you
never saw. To make matters worse, we
could not get our suppers as the rain beat out the fires - so all hands went to
bed supperless and wet to the skin.
With all this, the boys were very jovial, and took it
good-naturedly. Before retiring, orders
came to be ready to march in the morning with three days' rations in our
haversacks. We thought this was poor
consolation for wet, supperless soldiers.
We did not move the next morning, though the order was still in force,
and we could not tell at what moment we would be called to march.
It
was at this camp we received a new tent, called a shelter tent, which was to be
a substitute for our Sibley tents. The
report was that when the army moved we would have to turn our Sibleys over and
take the new ones. These tents were in
two pieces about the size of half a sheet, with buttonholes all around the
edge, about six inches apart. A button
was sewed to every buttonhole, so any two spuare ends would button together. They were intended for two men, each man
carrying his own half on his back. They
were made of linen and weighed but very little. Their appearance created quite an excitement and no little
disgust. They were condemned by both officers and men, and considered a grand
humbug - something gotten up to kill the men by exposure. They were issued to all our companies, some
of the men taking them and others refusing them. These were christened
'dog tents" and "puppy tents." A story was told, shortly after they were issued, that General
Rosecrans was riding past a regiment one day, who had these dog tents, and he
asked the boys how they liked them.
They got down on their hands and knees and ran into the tents and immediately
afterward stuck their heads out, imitating the barking of a dog. The general rode off laughing. It was not many months afterward though,
that our army would not have any other kind of a tent. In fact, they became so attached to the dog
tent that they could not do without it. They turned out to be the best thing we
ever had, especially when we found out how useful and handy they were. Our regiment never had any other up to the
time they came home. The old shelter
tent has done many a, good day's service to the veteran soldier and he will
never forget it. It has been his
companion in many a long dreary day's march.
It has sheltered him from the wind and rain, by day and by night. It has been the home of his comrade and
himself for many a year. Many a letter
has been written to his mother, wife,
sweetheart or friend beneath its shelter, and many a one received from home has
been read by the light of a piece of candle stuck on a bayonet under its roof,
or by the light of the fire built close to its mouth. Many a life has gone out from beneath its folds in the land of
the enemy, far from home and the ones that were deeply loved. Joy and gladness, sorrow and sadness, have
both paid it a visit while it was the home of the boys in blue. It has been laid away, securely packed, and
the bugle call that has been blown so often to strike it will be heard no more
by us.