THE KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN.
We left Newport News early the next morning, March 23d, and sailed
up the bay to Baltimore, where we arrived about three o'clock on the
morning of the 24th. The "Kennebec" hauled in at Pier No. 1, but we
did not land until afternoon. Cars then were in waiting for us, and we
learned that we were to go west by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
Cincinnati, Ohio, being our destination. At Eutaw street soft bread
was issued to the men, and then, about six o'clock, we started on our
long journey. The freight-cars in which we were packed were crowded
with rough board seats, so that there was no room in which to lie
down; but the scenery through which we passed was of the wildest and
grandest description, and the journey throughout was one of thrilling
interest to all. In the early part of it we passed through Point of
Rocks, Berlin, Sandy Hook, and Harper's Ferry,--all familiar places. At
Harper's Ferry, where we arrived early in the morning of the 25th, we
had bread and coffee. For miles beyond the track had been torn up by
the rebels in the preceding year, and here and there the rails, twisted
by fire, lay in heaps by the roadside, unfit for further use.
The country grew mountainous as we advanced. We reached Cumberland
about four o'clock in the afternoon. At Piedmont, which we reached
at six o'clock, we were most cordially entertained by the Fourteenth
Virginia regiment, which was guarding the railroad at this point. The
utmost good feeling was manifested; and, as we left our Virginia
comrades, to resume our journey, all joined in three rousing cheers.
After a most fatiguing ride, with little rest or sleep, we arrived at
Parkersburg on the Ohio river, about five o'clock in the afternoon
of the following day, March 26th. There we embarked on the steamer
"Bostonia," a fine, commodious boat. We left the landing about ten
P.M. It was a beautiful moonlight evening, and all greatly enjoyed the
change from the crowded cars. The next day was cool, but pleasant, and
we were delighted with the charming scenery through which we passed
as we rapidly glided down the river. At almost every place on the
Ohio side, and at some points on the opposite shore, we were greeted
with much enthusiasm. The people flocked _en masse_ to the banks of
the river, cheering and waving flags, and bidding us God-speed in our
efforts to win victory and peace.
We reached Cincinnati about seven o'clock in the evening. The regiment
remained on the boat during the night, only the officers being allowed
to go ashore. Nor were the men allowed to land the next day. That they
were moved to indignation by this restriction was a natural result.
Other regiments of the corps, which had preceded us, had been most
cordially received by the citizens, and most hospitably entertained.
The sons of Massachusetts resident in the city were prepared to
give the Thirty-sixth a no less hearty welcome, and had provided a
breakfast to which the regiment was invited on the morning of the 28th.
Expectation ran high, and the regiment was putting on its finest airs
in anticipation of the reception, and especially at the prospect of
one good "square meal" after the long and tedious journey, when, for
some then unaccountable reason, the colonel declined the invitation,
and peremptorily refused to allow the men to go ashore. When this
became known the indignation of the men was almost unbounded, and their
disappointment found expression in words of bitter complaint, more
especially as this refusal seemingly cast a reflection on the good name
and discipline of the regiment. In this feeling of disappointment
the citizens most heartily shared, many of them visiting the boat,
and expressing their regrets. It was afterwards ascertained that, on
account of the bad conduct of some regiment that preceded us, General
Burnside had issued an order that no more regiments should stop in
the city. This relieved Colonel Bowman of the responsibility for the
disappointment of the men of his command; but the disappointment was no
less keenly felt.
March 28th we crossed the river to the Kentucky shore, and landed at
Covington. There was some delay in procuring transportation; and, as
there was a large amount of whiskey near the station, some of the men
became not a little demoralized. One of this number had complained for
some time of severe lameness, and the surgeon, who had been puzzled
by his case, after watching him carefully, was about to secure his
discharge from the service. But, under the exhilaration of the hour,
forgetting his lameness, the man marched off so smartly that Colonel
Bowman informed him that the game was up; and, providing him with a
gun, ordered him back to his company.
Leaving Covington at night, we found ourselves the next morning,
Sunday, March 29th, at Lexington, ninety-eight miles from Covington.
Here we encamped in a grove of black walnut trees, adjoining the
beautiful cemetery, in which a magnificent monument has been erected
over the remains of Kentucky's illustrious son, the brilliant orator
and statesman, Henry Clay. The shaft is of gray limestone, one hundred
and thirty-two feet in height, and is surmounted by Clay's statue.
Ashland, the residence of Henry Clay, is about a mile and a half
distant.
Colonel Leasure, commanding the Third Brigade, was assigned to the
command of the post. In the days that followed, the Thirty-sixth was
engaged in doing provost duty in the city, and in building a fort. The
camp, although very attractive, and kept scrupulously clean, did not
prove a healthy one. The cold April weather, and the naturally moist
ground, as we were without fires in our tents, caused much sickness
from colds, chills, and intermittent fevers.
On the 30th of March a pleasant surprise was given to the colonel, in
the presentation of an elegant equipage for his horse, by the sergeants
of the regiment. The horse had previously been presented to the colonel
by the commissioned officers.
Nothing of especial interest occurred until Sunday, April 5th. On
that day a brigade service had been appointed, and at three o'clock
in the afternoon the Thirty-sixth and the One Hundredth Pennsylvania
assembled. In the midst of the service, orders came for us to break
camp immediately. We struck our tents, and marched to the depot, where
cars were in waiting. Our baggage was put on board, and we were off
for Cincinnati at half-past five. We reached Covington shortly after
midnight, but remained in the cars until morning. We then marched to an
open field near the station, and stacked arms. The colonel reported the
arrival of the regiment to General Burnside, and learned that it was
election day in Cincinnati, and we were there to quell any disturbance
that might arise at the polls. But no disturbance occurred. We remained
all day in the field near the depot, suffering not a little from the
cold, bleak wind. Tuesday morning, about half-past seven o'clock, we
left Covington, and reached Lexington about half-past three in the
afternoon, when we marched to our old camp-ground, and spent the rest
of the day in rearranging our quarters. On the journey we received a
hearty greeting from the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, at Paris, where the
regiment was stationed, and also from the One Hundredth Pennsylvania,
at Lexington, on our return.
The next morning, April 8th, greatly to our surprise, we received
orders, about eight o'clock, to strike tents. All was soon in
readiness, and the brigade, the One Hundredth Pennsylvania in advance,
marched through Lexington. The Thirty-sixth never made a better
appearance than in the streets of Lexington that day. We reached
Nicholasville about five o'clock in the afternoon, and encamped just
beyond the town. The next morning we resumed our march, about seven
o'clock. The men became quite footsore as we advanced, and many fell
out. About one o'clock we crossed the Kentucky river. The scenery was
most attractive, high rocky cliffs overhanging the river. We reached
Camp Dick Robinson, near Bryantsville, about four o'clock. The camp had
been occupied by the rebel General Bragg, who retreated on the approach
of the Union troops, having been informed by a citizen that a large
force was approaching.
April 13th, General Welch, formerly colonel of the Forty-fifth
Pennsylvania, but recently promoted, arrived at Camp Dick Robinson,
and assumed command of the First Division. On the same day, Rev. C. M.
Bowers, of Clinton, Mass., reached our camp, on a visit to the company
from that town. When he returned home, a few days after, many of the
men sent by him money which the paymaster had just left in their hands,
and most kindly and faithfully he attended to the many little details
of business thus confided to him.
The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania rejoined the brigade at this place. April
20th, Colonel Norton, who had been home on leave of absence, arrived
in camp. The next day, April 21st, Colonel Bowman received orders to
select four hundred men from his command, and to be ready to move
the next morning in light marching order. The battalion, commanded
by Colonel Bowman, left camp about six o'clock A.M., April 22d, in a
drenching rain, which continued until noon, when the sun came out very
warm, and made the march in the mud a fatiguing one. But the change
from the routine of camp-life to a march through a wild and beautiful
country was most exhilarating. At about three o'clock in the afternoon
the battalion reached Harrodsburg, an aristocratic town, largely in
sympathy with the rebellion, and encamped for the night on a beautiful
green slope just outside of the town. In the morning we marched through
the town again, exciting much curiosity and some enthusiasm. From
Harrodsburg the march was continued ten or twelve miles, through a most
delightful country, to the beautiful town of Danville, where we arrived
about two o'clock in the afternoon, and halted for dinner. A leisurely
march of about eight miles brought us, in the early evening, to our
quarters at Camp Dick Robinson. The purpose of this march has never
been disclosed. Colonel Bowman was not told. He was ordered to move;
the roads, the halting-places, etc., were designated, but concerning
the end in view he was not informed.
The regiment, with the brigade, remained at Camp Dick Robinson until
April 30th, when we were aroused at four o'clock A.M., with orders
to move at six. At the appointed time we were on the march. It was a
beautiful day, and the roads were in excellent condition. We passed
through Lancaster about noon, and halted for dinner. Later in the
afternoon we encamped about a mile beyond Stanford. On the next day,
May 1st, we remained in camp until one o'clock P.M., when we continued
our march, and encamped about a mile beyond Hustonville. May 2d we
advanced about ten miles in the afternoon, and encamped at Middleburgh,
which is situated on a branch of the Green river.
On these marches amusing incidents were of frequent occurrence. One
day the Twenty-seventh Michigan, a new regiment, had the advance;
and, like all new troops, the men marched too fast, and too long a
distance without rest. The next day the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania had
the lead, and the Twenty-seventh Michigan was sandwiched in between
the Forty-fifth and the Thirty-sixth. These two regiments had an
agreement in reference to the day's march. The Forty-fifth started off
with a long swing, and the Thirty-sixth followed up "right smart," in
rear of the Twenty-seventh. The result was that the Twenty-seventh
had a hard day of it. Many of the men fell out on the march, and
laid down by the roadside, exhausted. Of course it was a good pull
for the old regiments. One man in the Thirty-sixth fell down and
fainted apparently. His eyes closed, and he seemed to be in a bad way.
However, his case was not considered a serious one. The next morning
the surgeon, who had some suspicions that the man was "playing it,"
asked him some amusing questions, and dismissed him without giving any
decision in his case. "What shall I mark him?" asked the sergeant;
"excused from duty, or not?" "Mark him for the land of Canaan," said
the surgeon.
May 3d, the day after we reached Middleburgh, two colored boys came
into camp, one of whom Captain Raymond hired, and the other was hired
by the non-commissioned staff. The boys had just been arrayed in
United States blue when the master of Captain Raymond's boy made his
appearance with a cavalry officer, and, showing a writing, demanded
his slave. The boy was frightened at the sight of his master, and said
he would rather be shot where he was than go back to the whipping that
awaited him. But we had no authority to detain him, and the master took
him by the collar, and led him off. After he had gone, the other boy,
finding that we could give him no protection, thought he had better go
home voluntarily. So he started. Such, at that time, was the "peculiar
institution" in Kentucky.
On the same day a Mr. Markham and three daughters--refugees from East
Tennessee--visited our camp. In September, 1861, they were living in
Scott County. One day a party of rebels approached the house in search
of the father, who was a Union man. One of the rebels came forward to
reconnoitre, and asked one of the daughters where her father was. She
declined to answer. He then advanced toward her with bayonet fixed. To
defend herself she seized an axe, and endeavored to parry his thrusts,
but he succeeded in forcing the bayonet into her skull, just above
the eye, putting out the eye, and causing the brain to protrude. The
father, hearing her cries, rushed from his hiding-place, and shot the
rebel dead. He then made his escape immediately. One of the sisters ran
to the house to warn her cousin to flee also; but, the rest of the
rebels coming up, he was soon killed. Two of their neighbors they hung,
and left on the tree. This was a new side of the war to us,--a side of
which we were to see more at a later period, when the regiment was in
East Tennessee.
May 4th we moved our camp forward about a mile, in order to get
upon better ground. On the following day our regimental baggage was
reduced. Only three tents were allowed at head-quarters, while the
line officers had five tents instead of ten, as heretofore. Wednesday,
May 6th, at dress-parade a despatch from General Willcox to General
Welch, announcing cheering news from the Rappahannock, was read. Not
until two days later did we receive the tidings of Hooker's defeat
at Chancellorsville. On Sunday, May 10th, there were rumors of the
capture of Richmond. The first came early in the afternoon. Not long
after dress-parade Colonel Bowman received a despatch, stating that
Hooker, reinforced, had recrossed the Rappahannock, and that Stoneman
and Dix had raised the stars and stripes on the rebel capitol. The
news was at once communicated to the regiment, and was received with
the wildest enthusiasm. Fires were built on a high hill near the camp,
candles were issued to the men, and soon the camp of the Thirty-sixth
was all ablaze. Then the several companies, under command of Captain
Smith, with candles fixed on their bayonets, marched to the camp of the
Twenty-seventh Michigan and One Hundredth Pennsylvania, cheering and
receiving cheers from both regiments, which were in line to receive
us. When the regiment returned to camp there were congratulatory
speeches by Colonel Bowman, Acting Adjutant Hodgkins, Captain Warriner,
Lieutenant Brigham, and others. It was a fourth of July occasion. We
soon learned that we had exulted too soon.
On Wednesday, May 13th, rumors of a rebel raid by Morgan reached us.
The pickets were strengthened and thrown farther out. Two days later
a limited number of furloughs were granted in each company, and the
men under Captain Raymond left for Stanford on their way home. There
was no further information concerning the rebel raid. The division
supply-trains moved back to Hustonville, also Edmunds' Battery.
We remained at Middleburgh until Saturday, May 23d. On that day, at
noon, orders were received to move. The Thirty-sixth led the brigade
column. We encamped at night, about nine miles beyond Liberty, on the
banks of the Green river. There we remained over Sunday. On Monday,
May 25th, the bugles called us out at half-past three in the morning,
and at five we were on the road. Our march was through a thick forest
during a greater part of the day. About three o'clock in the afternoon
we encamped a short distance from Neatsville. On the following day, May
26th, the _reveillé_ was sounded at half-past two in the morning, and
we marched at half-past three. As on the preceding day, our route lay
through an almost unbroken forest. At half-past nine o'clock in the
forenoon we encamped about a mile from Columbia.
May 27th we had orders to be in readiness to march at seven P.M., in
light marching order. At that time we left camp, with the One Hundredth
Pennsylvania and a section of Edmunds' Battery, Colonel Leasure in
command. Before reaching Columbia a squadron of cavalry joined us. It
was understood that we were in pursuit of Morgan's guerillas. Passing
through the town, we took the Waynesburgh road; but, after marching
a mile or so, we faced about, returned to town, and took the road to
Glasgow. It was a beautiful moonlight evening. The road was somewhat
rough, and mostly through woods. We reached Gradyville about one
o'clock on the morning of the 27th, and bivouacked for the rest of
the night. Later in the morning we marched to a grove of magnificent
beeches, on a hillside near by. There we remained all day, while the
cavalry scoured the neighborhood. About noon they brought in two rebel
officers. At night it commenced to rain, but we made ourselves as
comfortable as possible.
The next day, Friday, May 29th, we marched about eight o'clock, and
found the road very rough as we advanced. Notwithstanding the rain, we
pushed on to Breedingsville, fourteen miles from Columbia and sixteen
from Burkesville, on the Cumberland river. Weary and wet, we sought
shelter for the night in the out-buildings of a farm-house, while our
cavalry scouts set out for the river.
The next day, May 30th, the scouts having returned, we turned our faces
toward Columbia, which we reached between eleven and twelve o'clock in
the evening, having marched forty-seven miles during our absence from
camp, and captured twenty-five prisoners.
Meanwhile a serious accident had occurred at the camp. The armorer was
repairing some guns. One, which was not supposed to be loaded, he put
into the fire for some purpose, and the gun was discharged. The ball
entered the tent of Quartermaster-Sergeant Joseph H. Sawyer, and struck
one of his knees. The wound was so severe that amputation was deemed
necessary, and the operation was skilfully performed by Surgeon Prince.
Monday, June 1st, Colonel Bowman was assigned to the command of the
brigade, which now consisted of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts,
Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, Seventeenth and Twenty-seventh Michigan
regiments. That night we received orders to march, and at once
proceeded to Jamestown, commonly called "Jimtown," on the Cumberland
river. It was twenty miles from Columbia, and we reached the place
about four o'clock Tuesday morning. We had hardly stacked arms on a
wooded hillside near the town when a sharp skirmish fire was heard on
the road at our right, and presently a squad of our cavalry dashed
up the road toward the town, followed closely by a company of rebel
horsemen. Our men were quickly in line of battle, under a ridge running
parallel with the road, and Companies A and F were thrown out as
skirmishers. But the rebels, at the first sight of our men, wheeled
and made good their escape. They had evidently intended to make a dash
into the town, but the timely arrival of our brigade was an unexpected
episode in the morning's adventure.
One of the rebels a citizen soon brought in as a prisoner. It was found
that he had been thrown by his horse, and that the horse had escaped.
The citizen met the rebel as he was crossing a brook, after losing his
horse, and kindly offered to hold his gun--one of Colt's revolving
rifles--until he was over. The rebel innocently handed the gun to the
citizen, who at once informed him that he was his prisoner, and marched
him into our camp. Colonel Bowman gave the citizen the rifle as a
reward for his strategy. According to the prisoner, his party consisted
of three hundred men. He was a conscript from East Tennessee, he said,
and belonged to Pegram's command.
Upon assuming command of the new brigade, which had been formed in
consequence of the reorganization of the division, Colonel Bowman
appointed First Lieutenant Raymond as acting assistant inspector
general, and Second Lieutenant Hodgkins as acting assistant adjutant
general of the brigade. The last-named officer had performed the duties
of adjutant of the regiment during the illness of Adjutant Ranlett,
from January 19th, until his appointment upon the brigade staff, when
the latter resumed his duties as adjutant.
We remained at Jamestown until Thursday, June 4th, when at noon, to
the surprise of all, we received orders to proceed at once to Lebanon,
which was sixty miles away, our nearest railroad connection with the
North. Although we had had little or no rest for a week, in forty-eight
consecutive hours, including halts and sleep, we made the sixty miles,
arriving at Lebanon at noon, June 6th. And this long journey was
accomplished in heavy marching order, under a scorching sun, and in
dust which was almost insufferable.
As his limb had not sufficiently healed, we were obliged to leave
Quartermaster-Sergeant Sawyer at Columbia. Private James E. Spear, of
Company B, remained with him, and both eventually succeeded in reaching
our lines in safety, having been paroled by John Morgan, who, with his
cavalry, drove out our cavalry two days after we left.
At Lebanon we learned that our destination was Vicksburg, Miss., Grant
being in need of reinforcements. On the afternoon of the following
day, June 7th, we took the cars for Louisville, where we arrived late
at night, and the regiment was paid off in the depot. The next day we
crossed the Ohio, by ferry, to Jacksonville, Ind. There cars were in
waiting, and we proceeded to Cairo, Ill., by way of Seymour, Ind., and
Sandoval, Ill. All the way we were received with kindest attentions, in
many instances ladies remaining all night at the stations to serve us
with refreshments, and cheer us with loyal words. We reached Cairo on
the 9th of June.