The Saturday after our arrival at Edgefield the regiment received orders
to prepare for inspection the next day, Sunday. So at it we went,
cleaning up our guns and making their barrels shine like silver. This
was done by laying the gun barrel in a strap in a bed of ashes and
pulling the strap up and down, rolling the barrel with the foot. After a
short application of this kind, the barrel would be thoroughly cleaned,
the friction with the ashes having removed every particle of rust and
dirt. Our brass breast plates and belt plates were also scoured up, and
we endeavored by every means in our power to clean up thoroughly, and we
succeeded, as we thought, splendidly. This was our first regular
inspection, and we were anxious that the inspecting officer should make
a good report on our appearance. So we worked busily all day, and at
last felt confident that we would get a good report out of him. Sunday
morning came, bright and beautiful, and at the hour specified the bugle
sounded the assembly. We formed in line by companies and moved out to
the color line, where we took our places. "Attention, battalion," came
the order from the adjutant, "by companies, right wheel, march!" "Rear
rank, open order, march," and there we were ready for inspection. The
inspecting officer, who seemed to be very much of a dandy, with long
gauntlets of white leather on his arms, and everything about him looking
as if he had just come out of a band-box, in company with our colonel,
commenced going down the lines. The appearance of the men was good, the
condition of the arms, considering the kind they were and the long march
we had just closed, were pronounced satisfactory. But when he went
behind us, and commenced examining our cartridge boxes, Oh! that he had
only kept his prying fingers and inquisitive eyes off of them. In order
that the reader may understand the reason why, we must go back a little.
When we went into the fight at Perrysville, each man had forty rounds of
ball cartridges issued to him, with which to fill his cartridge box, and
strict orders were given not to waste or destroy them. But the battle
was fought, Bragg retreated, we went to Crab Orchard, and then turned
back for Nashville. No enemy was near us, as far as we knew, and as we
were tired of carrying the cartridges, we very quietly threw the most of
them away, and in their place had put our razor, shaving soap, tobacco,
or any other little article that we could stuff in, so that when our
cartridge boxes were opened by the inspecting officer on that bright
Sabbath morning, his astonished gaze, instead of resting on villainous
lead and powder, done up in paper, found in their place the implements
of the dressing-room and toilet table. It was too bad, we never thought
he would look in the boxes, so we had let them remain in _statu quo_. As
he passed down the lines of the companies his astonishment increased.
The colonel was heartily ashamed of us, and to tell the truth we were a
little ashamed of ourselves. But the "cat was out of the bag," or more
properly speaking, the cartridges were out of the boxes, and as a matter
of course the good report which we had desired was gone. In truth the
regiment was in a deplorable condition for ammunition.
At dress parade, that evening, our colonel reprimanded us severely for
our gross neglect of orders, and we felt as if we deserved it. A fresh
supply was issued to us the next day, and the boxes filled up.
The center of the rebel army at this time was at Murfreesboro, and the
principal part of their army was massed there, thirty-two miles from
Nashville. We had now been in camp since the eighth of November; no
movement of any importance had been made. We had broken camp, however,
at Edgefield, once during this time, and marched with our division to
Mill Creek, five miles south of Nashville, and had again gone into camp.
While here we were placed in the division commanded by General Robert
Mitchell, and on the twenty-sixth of December, when the army moved
forward to meet the enemy at Stone River, our division was ordered back
to garrison the city of Nashville. We arrived inside of the
fortifications of the city just at nightfall and went into camp
temporarily. We had now been four months from home, had had one battle
and a weary march, so we were noways displeased with the order, and we
concluded that at last we would now get some of the pleasures of a
soldier's life, if there were any. The next few days were passed in
selecting proper camps for us.
Nashville at this time was a very important post of the Union Army, and
here were stored immense quantities of supplies, food forage and
ammunition, while our direct line of communication, north, was over the
line of the Louisville and Nashville rail road, with John Morgan on hand
to sever that line whenever opportunity offered. We found the city
somewhat recovered from the panic into which it had been thrown, on the
receipt of the news of the fall of Fort Donelson at the mouth of the
Cumberland, the river on which Nashville is situated, and perhaps it
would be interesting to insert here a description, by a resident, of the
panic which the receipt of the news of the fall of Fort Donelson caused,
showing the terrible destruction of property, and the ravages of the
retreating rebel army.
"Just as church services were about to commence, there appeared at
the door a messenger, who instantly sent the sexton up to the pulpit
with a notice that: 'Fort Donelson had surrendered at five o'clock
this morning; the gun boats were coming up; Buell's army is at
Springfield, only 25 miles north of the city, and each man must take
care of himself.' Then followed a rush and a tumult, the like of
which that city had never seen before. Such hurrying to and fro of
carriages, buggies, omnibuses and baggage wagons, with great loads
of trunks and valises, making their way to the depots of the rail
roads leading to the southward. The Governor, Isham G. Harris, had
fled on a mule, and the legislators followed him as rapidly as
possible the same day. Regiments of rebel soldiers were coming in
from Bowling Green, stealing and plundering on their line of march,
from friend and foe. The cattle of the farmers were shot down in
mere wantonness, and fences burned. Nashville was the chief depot
for the provisions and army stores for the whole rebel dominion in
the west, and had the same importance to the department there, as
Richmond in the east. Of these stores there were millions of dollars
in value that could not be moved in time. Word was given out for the
inhabitants to come and help themselves, which they did with a will.
In the armory were deposited some five to seven thousand rifles. Two
thousand of the best were brought out by order of General Floyd, and
burned. All these had been impressed from the people in the state,
forcibly or otherwise, as they could be found in the owner's houses.
Two elegant steam boats, formerly in the Nashville and New Orleans
trade, purchased by the Jeff Davis government at a cost of $35,000
each, and in process of being converted into gun boats, were burned.
The rail road bridge that cost 50,000, and the wire suspension
bridge, costing $150,000, both beautiful structures, were also
burned. The mayor, with a committee of leading citizens, waited upon
Floyd, and earnestly remonstrated against the destruction of the
bridges, but without success. Another fine steamer, private
property, was burned by the Texas Rangers. Five or six other steam
boats that were lying in port, the owners had very prudently moved
over to the north side of the river, and had thus escaped the torch
of the rebels. From the morning of the 16th to the 24th of February,
anarchy and rioting prevailed. Fierce and awful were the curses
heaped upon Johnston, Floyd and Pillow, by the retreating soldiery.
Some of them swore they were going home if it cost them their lives.
Five thousand lives they said had been sacrificed by Johnston at
Bowling Green, from exposure, bad fare and hard work, to which not
many of them had ever been accustomed."
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