On the 17th, we marched down to the wharf, embarked on the Steamship
“J. W. Everman,” to start down the home stretch. We took on six
hundred barrels of coal and at one p. m. we ran out of the bay. While
getting on board, one of our boys fell overboard. A Dutch teamster,
by the name of Oose Yager, pitched a rope to him, and he was lucky
enough to get hold of the end of it and Oose hauled away at it, in
the meantime bawling out, “Hold to the wope! Hold to the wope!” This
afterwards became a by-word. The poor fellow who fell overboard was
saved from the sharks, as many of them were swimming around the ship.
The water was as smooth as glass and as blue as the sky, not a
riffle was to be seen. Many huge sharks were keeping pace with the
vessel. The sea gulls would light on the masts and flap their wings
and chirp. All of the boys were filled with joy at the prospect of
getting to see the loved ones at home once more. Some of them were
feeling good from turning up their canteens too often. The sailors
laughed and said, “You will change your tune before going to bed, for
the darkest hours of life they say, come just before the brightest
day.”
At six p. m. we saw a small black cloud which looked as if it were on
top of the water. It soon seemed like mountains of snow were rolling
toward us. The waves rolled fifty feet high. When they struck the
vessel, the rudder came unshipped and we logged along, once more at
the mercy of God.
The sailors went up to clear the deck, but some of our drinking boys,
who were on deck drove them down and swore that they were running
that craft and were going home. One could hear them yell, “Hold to
the wope.” But it was a different scene down in the hull. Some were
trying to pray and others were too sick to do anything but roll from
one side of the vessel to the other and vomit.
That horrible night will never be forgotten by some of the boys of
the old 24th Indiana. The morning of the 18th came and found our
little wrecked vessel still wallowing in the foamy billows of that
stormy deep. The storm had abated just a little. We knew not how far
we had been carried from our course by the storm and the compass
was out of order. The captain of the vessel had to do something, so
he set the reef sails, got up steam, and pulled out to find land
somewhere.
On the 19th the sea was calmer, but no land was to be seen. The
morning of the 20th found us anchored in sight of Powder Horn, at the
mouth of Matagorda Bay. This was not many miles from Indianola, one
hundred ten miles from Galveston, after we had been tossed about by
the storm, five or six hundred miles.
At seven a. m. the steamer “Clinton,” on her way to Indianola, came
in sight. We fired several shots from a cannon and hoisted a flag of
distress. She came back in the evening, took our ship in tow, and
pulled us back to Galveston Bay. On the morning of the 21st we were
cut loose from the “Clinton” and towed in to the wharf by the tug
“Eliza Hancox.”
We felt somewhat calmed down after being tossed about for five days
on one day’s rations. We drew rations and on the morning of the 22nd,
we were towed out into the gulf by the “Eliza Hancox.” At two p. m.
the “Clinton” hitched on and we started for New Orleans again.
On the 23rd we ran in sight of Sabine Pass. At four o’clock on the
morning of the 24th, we ran into the mouth of the South-west Pass.
Here the “Clinton” lashed on to the side of our boat and we pulled
on up the river. A little accident occurred which drew the attention
of many of our boys. Some one in the regiment was taking a little
Mexican dog home. The poor little fellow fell overboard, and trying
to rescue him caused quite an excitement. A monstrous alligator,
sixteen feet long, appeared on the scene. The dog gave one yelp, made
one bite, and disappeared. Several shots were fired at the alligator
but none took effect. The boys were left to mourn the loss of their
little dog. We had only two pets in the regiment, a bear and a dog.
We ran past Fort Jackson at ten p. m. On the morning of the 25th, we
landed at Greenville Station, above New Orleans. We got off of the
good ship which had carried us safely across so many miles of stormy
waters.
On the 26th we got on board the “Elnora Carol” and started up
the river. We ran past Morganza Bend and on the 28th we landed
at Vicksburg. On the morning of the 30th, we ran past Helena and
past Memphis some time in the night. We landed at Cairo, Illinois,
December 2, 1865. We had traveled one thousand six hundred and two
miles in ten days, after the time when we had been reported lost.
Many of our friends at home never expected to meet us again.
We got off of the boat and marched out through the town to the
Soldiers’ Home. Here we were served with a splendid supper of coffee,
beans and bacon, and were given good quarters to sleep in.
On the morning of the 3rd, we marched to the depot, boarded the
train and ran to Mattoon, Illinois. At ten o’clock, we changed cars
and went on the Big Four to Terre Haute, Indiana. We arrived at
Indianapolis at seven p. m., December 4, 1865. We got off and marched
to the Soldiers’ Home.
On the 5th we signed up the pay rolls. On the 6th of December, 1865,
we were payed off in full and disbanded. The rain poured down all
evening. Each comrade hunted for the nearest road and quickest route
that would take him home to the loved ones that he had not seen for
many long weary days.
The 24th Indiana traveled through eleven states and made a distance
of thirteen thousand six hundred and seven miles in four years, four
months and twenty-seven days. The average was eight and a half miles
per day.
There were many of us who never met again, but we will ever stand in
Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty, at Home, Sweet Home.
Names of states the 24th Indiana traveled through: Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Florida, Alabama and Texas.
[Illustration: (Publisher colophon)]
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
For consistency, several instances of A. M. and P. M. have been
changed to a. m. and p. m.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Frontmatter: ‘BATTLE OF SHILO’ replaced by ‘BATTLE OF SHILOH’.
Frontmatter: two instances of ‘Vicksburgh, Miss.’ replaced by
‘Vicksburg, Miss.’.
Pg 16: ‘Endfield rifles’ replaced by ‘Enfield rifles’.
Pg 17: ‘back aver the’ replaced by ‘back over the’.
Pg 20: ‘which Colenel’ replaced by ‘which Colonel’.
Pg 21: ‘to the carrall’ replaced by ‘to the corral’.
Pg 32: ‘On the moning’ replaced by ‘On the morning’.
Pg 35: ‘Still we splunged’ replaced by ‘Still we plunged’.
Pg 36: ‘Bureguard had been’ replaced by ‘Beauregard had been’.
Pg 37: ‘Buregard and Johnson’ replaced by ‘Beauregard and Johnson’.
Pg 38: ‘while our bunboats’ replaced by ‘while our gunboats’.
Pg 38: ‘the Tennessee anl’ replaced by ‘the Tennessee and’.
Pg 40: ‘great victroy’ replaced by ‘great victory’.
Pg 41: ‘Th birds warbled’ replaced by ‘The birds warbled’.
Pg 42: ‘Bureguard and Bragg’ replaced by ‘Beauregard and Bragg’.
Pg 49: ‘a thimblefull of’ replaced by ‘a thimbleful of’.
Pg 49: ‘enough wiskey to’ replaced by ‘enough whiskey to’.
Pg 53: ‘our seige guns’ replaced by ‘our siege guns’.
Pg 55: ‘A 8’ replaced by ‘At 8’.
Pg 61: ‘Sheman had taken’ replaced by ‘Sherman had taken’.
Pg 90: ‘at the ctiy’ replaced by ‘at the city’.
Pg 90: ‘The hebs fell’ replaced by ‘The rebs fell’.
Pg 94: ‘XIII’ replaced by ‘CHAPTER XIII’.
Pg 94: ‘rebels surrundered’ replaced by ‘rebels surrendered’.
Pg 99: ‘several cupfulls’ replaced by ‘several cupfuls’.
Pg 100: ‘squad of gorillas’ replaced by ‘squad of guerrillas’.
Pg 106: ‘their gorilla warfare’ replaced by ‘their guerrilla warfare’.
Pg 109: ‘killed by gorillas’ replaced by ‘killed by guerrillas’.
Pg 110: ‘sneaking gorilla’ replaced by ‘sneaking guerrilla’.
Pg 116: ‘had a ridicule’ replaced by ‘had a reticule’.
Pg 118: ‘right next (several’ replaced by ‘right (several’.
Pg 121: ‘they hosited up’ replaced by ‘they hoisted up’.
Pg 124: ‘Tomgigby river,’ replaced by ‘Tombigbee river,’.
Pg 125: ‘of gorillas and’ replaced by ‘of guerrillas and’.
Pg 127: ‘Tombigby river.’ replaced by ‘Tombigbee river.’.
Pg 129: ‘of our land’ replaced by ‘of our band’.
Pg 133: ‘Matagordia Bay’ replaced by ‘Matagorda Bay’.