MURFREESBORO. WINTER OF 1864-1865. FRANKLIN. SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1865.
After the retreat of Hood from Nashville, matters became very quiet and
uneventful with us at Murfreesboro. The regiment shifted its camp from
the inside of Fortress Rosecrans out into open ground on the outskirts
of the town, and proceeded to build winter quarters. These consisted of
log cabins, like those we built at Little Rock the previous winter,
only now the logs were cedar instead of pine. There were extensive
cedar forests in the immediate vicinity of Murfreesboro, and we had no
difficulty whatever in getting the material. And we had plenty of nice,
fragrant cedar wood to burn in our fire-places, which was much better
than soggy Arkansas pine. And I remember with pleasure a matter
connected with the rations we had in the fore part of the winter. For
some reason or other the supply of hardtack became practically
exhausted, and we had but little in the line of flour bread, even for
some weeks after Hood retreated from Nashville. But in the country
north of Murfreesboro was an abundance of corn, and there were plenty
of water-mills, so Gen. Rousseau sent out foraging parties in that
region and appropriated the corn, and set the mills to grinding it, and
oh, what fine cornbread we had! We used to make "ash-cakes," and they
were splendid. The method of making and cooking an ash-cake was to mix
a quantity of meal with proper proportions of water, grease, and salt,
wrap the meal dough in some dampened paper, or a clean, wet cloth, then
put it in the fire and cover it with hot ashes and coals. By testing
with a sharp stick we could tell when the cake was done, then we would
yank it from the fire, scrape off the fragments of the covering and the
adhering ashes,--and then, with bacon broiled on the cedar coals, and
plenty of good strong coffee, we would have a dinner better than any
(from my standpoint) that Delmonico's ever served up in its palmiest
days.
On February 4th, 1865, the non-veterans and recruits of the regiment
came to us from Arkansas, and so we were once more all together, except
a few that were in the Confederate prisons down South. We were all glad
to see each other once more, and had many tales to "swap," about our
respective experiences during our separation.
On February 10th, Lieutenant Wallace resigned, and returned to his home
in Illinois. The chief reason for his resignation was on account of
some private matter at home, which was giving him much anxiety and
trouble. Further, the war in the region where we were was practically
over, and there was nothing doing, with no prospect, so far as we knew,
of any military activity for the regiment in the future. Wallace's
resignation left Co. D without a second lieutenant, as we then did not
have enough enlisted men in the company to entitle us to a full
complement of commissioned officers, and the place remained vacant for
some months.
On March 21st, we left Murfreesboro by rail and went to Nashville, and
thence to Franklin, about twenty miles south of Nashville, and on what
was then called the Nashville and Decatur railroad. A desperate and
bloody battle occurred here between our forces under the command of
Gen. Schofield and the Confederates under Gen. Hood, on November 30th,
only two days after our arrival at Murfreesboro. I have often wondered
why it was that Gen. Thomas, our department commander, did not send our
regiment, on our arrival at Nashville, to reinforce Schofield, instead
of to Murfreesboro, for Gen. Schofield certainly needed all the help he
could get. But it is probable that Gen. Thomas had some good reason for
his action.
When we arrived at Franklin we relieved the regiment that was on duty
there as a garrison, and it went somewhere else. It was the 75th
Pennsylvania, and the officers and men composing it, so far as I saw,
were all Germans. And they were fine, soldierly looking fellows, too.
From this time until we left Franklin in the following September, our
regiment comprised all the Union force that was stationed at the town.
Maj. Nulton was in command of the post, and, subject only to higher
authorities at a distance, we were "monarchs of all we surveyed." When
we came to Franklin the signs of the battle of November 30th were yet
fresh and plentiful. As soon as time and opportunity afforded, I walked
over the whole field, (in fact, several times,) looking with deep
interest at all the evidences of the battle. I remember especially the
appearance of a scattered grove of young locust trees which stood at a
point opposite the right center of the Union line. For some hours the
grove was right between the fire of both the Union and the Confederate
lines, and the manner in which the trees had been riddled with musket
balls was truly remarkable. It looked as if a snowbird could not have
lived in that grove while the firing was in progress.
General William A. Quarles, of Tennessee, was one of the Confederate
generals who were wounded in this battle, and after incurring his wound
was taken to the house of a Tennessee planter, Col. McGavock, about a
mile from Franklin, near the Harpeth river. Two or three other wounded
Confederate officers of less rank were taken to the same place. When
the Confederates retreated from Nashville, Gen. Quarles and these other
wounded officers were unable to accompany the army. They remained at
McGavock's, and were taken prisoners by our forces. They were put under
a sort of parole of honor, and allowed to remain where they were,
without being guarded. They had substantially recovered from their
wounds at the time our regiment arrived at Franklin, and not long
thereafter Capt. Keeley came to me one day, and handed me an order from
Maj. Nulton, which directed me to take a detail of four men, with two
ambulances, and go to McGavock's and get Gen. Quarles and the other
Confederate officers who were there, and bring them into Franklin, for
the purpose of being sent to Nashville, and thence to the north to some
military prison. I thereupon detailed Bill Banfield and three other
boys, told them what our business was, and instructed them to brush up
nicely, and have their arms and accouterments in first class condition,
and, in general, to be looking their best. Having obtained the
ambulances, with drivers, we climbed aboard, and soon arrived at the
fine residence of old Col. McGavock. I went into the house, met the
lady of the establishment, and inquired of her for Gen. Quarles, and
was informed that he was in an upper room. I requested the lady to give
the general my compliments, and tell him that I desired to see him. She
disappeared, and soon the general walked into the room where I was
awaiting him. He was a man slightly below medium stature, heavy set,
black hair, piercing black eyes, and looked to be about thirty years
old. He was a splendid looking soldier. I stepped forward and saluted
him, and briefly and courteously told him my business. "All right,
sergeant," he answered, "we'll be ready in a few minutes." Their
preparations were soon completed, and we left the house. I assigned the
general and one of the other officers to a seat near the front in one
of the ambulances, and Bill Banfield and I occupied the seat behind
them, and the remaining guards and prisoners rode in the other
conveyance. There was only one remark made on the entire trip back to
Franklin, and I'll mention it presently. We emerged from the woods into
the Columbia pike at a point about three-quarters of a mile in front of
our main line of works that had been charged repeatedly and desperately
by the Confederates in the late battle. The ground sloped gently down
towards the works, and for fully half a mile was as level as a house
floor. I noticed that at the moment we reached the pike Gen. Quarles
began to take an intense interest in the surroundings. He would lean
forward, and look to the right, to the front, to the left, and
occasionally throw a hasty glance backward,--but said nothing. Finally
we passed through our works, near the historic "cotton-gin," and the
general drew a deep breath, leaned back against his seat, and said:
"Well, by God, the next time I fight at Franklin, I want to let the
Columbia pike severely alone!" No one made any response, and the
remainder of the journey was finished in silence. I duly delivered Gen.
Quarles and his fellow-prisoners to Maj. Nulton, and never saw any of
them again.
Early in April, decisive military operations took place in Virginia. On
the 3rd of that month our forces marched into Richmond, and on the 9th
the army of Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant. At Franklin we were on
a telegraph line, and only about twenty miles from department
headquarters, so the intelligence of those events was not long in
reaching us. I am just unable to tell how profoundly gratified we were
to hear of the capture of Richmond, and of Lee's army. We were
satisfied that those victories meant the speedy and triumphant end of
the war. It had been a long, desperate, and bloody struggle, and
frequently the final result looked doubtful and gloomy. But
now,--"there were signs in the sky that the darkness was gone; there
were tokens in endless array"; and the feeling among the common
soldiers was one of heart-felt relief and satisfaction. But suddenly
our joy was turned into the most distressing grief and mourning. Only a
few days after we heard of Lee's surrender came the awful tidings of
the foul murder of Mr. Lincoln. I well remember the manner of the men
when the intelligence of the dastardly crime was flashed to us at
Franklin. They seemed dazed and stunned, and were reluctant to believe
it, until the fact was confirmed beyond question. They sat around in
camp under the trees, talking low, and saying but little, as if the
matter were one that made mere words utterly useless. But they were in
a desperate frame of mind, and had there been the least appearance of
exultation over the murder of Mr. Lincoln by any of the people of
Franklin, the place would have been laid in ashes instanter. But the
citizens seemed to understand the situation. They went into their
houses, and closed their doors, and the town looked as if deserted. To
one who had been among the soldiers for some years, it was easy to
comprehend and understand their feelings on this occasion. For the last
two years of the war especially, the men had come to regard Mr. Lincoln
with sentiments of veneration and love. To them he really was "Father
Abraham," with all that the term implied. And this regard was also
entertained by men of high rank in the army. Gen. Sherman, in speaking
of Mr. Lincoln, says this:
"Of all the men I ever met, he seemed to possess more of the
elements of greatness, combined with goodness, than any other."
(Memoirs of Gen. W. T. Sherman, revised edition, Vol. 2, p. 328.)
For my part, I have been of the opinion, for many years, that Abraham
Lincoln was the greatest man the world has ever known.
In the latter part of June the recruits of the 83rd, the 98th, and the
123rd Illinois Infantry were transferred to the 61st, making the old
regiment about nine hundred strong. Co. D received forty-six of the
transferred men, all of these being from the 83rd Illinois. And they
were a fine set of boys, too. Their homes were, in the main, in
northwestern Illinois, in the counties of Mercer, Rock Island, and
Warren. They all had received a good common school education, were
intelligent, and prompt and cheerful in the discharge of their duties.
They were good soldiers, in every sense of the word. It is a little
singular that, since the muster-out of the regiment in the following
September, I have never met a single one of these boys.
[Illustration: Daniel S. Keeley
Major, 61st Illinois Infantry.]
The ranks of the regiment now being filled nearly to the maximum, the
most of the vacancies that existed in the line of commissioned officers
were filled just as promptly as circumstances would permit. Lieut. Col.
Grass had been discharged on May 15th, 1865, and Maj. Nulton, who was
now our ranking field officer, was, on July 11th, promoted to the
position of Colonel. He was the first, and only, colonel the regiment
ever had. The vacancy in the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment was
never filled, for what reason I do not know. Capt. Keeley was promoted
Major, and first Lieutenant Warren to Captain of Co. D in Keeley's
stead. And thus it came to pass that on July 11th I received a
commission as second lieutenant of our company, and on August 21st was
promoted to first lieutenant. Soon after receiving my commission, Capt.
Warren was detailed on some special duty which took him away from
Franklin for some weeks, and consequently during his absence I was the
commanding officer of Co. D. So far as ever came to my knowledge, I got
along all right, and very pleasantly. It is a fact, at any rate, that I
presented a more respectable appearance than that which was displayed
during the brief time I held the position at Austin, Arkansas, in May,
1864.