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