"We received marching orders yesterday. We are to go from here to
Fort Henry, there to take steamers on the Tennessee River, whether up
or down the river we do not know, but our supposition is that we are
destined for the direction of Florence, Alabama. It may be a movement
on Memphis by the flank. We are all pleased with the prospect of
getting still farther South.
"Our greatest want now in the way of marching is wagons for
transportation, and that is likely to be the want during all the
marches. I, with quite a number of officers, have concluded to send our
trunks home. We field officers are limited by General Grant's orders
to one hundred pounds of baggage, to include clothing, bedclothes,
mess-chest, and everything personal. And as I think as much of a warm
bed and good rations as I do of good clothes, I have put a change of
underclothes into my saddle valise, and with my carpet-sack can get
along. Then Colonel Morgan and I have gone in partnership in an old
trunk, for our dress uniforms, shirts, etc. I send my shabrack [saddle
cover] in the bottom of the trunk. Have it taken out, well brushed,
and hung up in the attic. It is rather too gay to wear out here in the
woods. It will do for musters and parades at home!"
IV
THE BATTLE OF SHILOH
We were much pleased to turn our backs upon Fort Donelson, as the
movement gave promise of an advance still farther into the South. In my
letter dated Fort Henry, March 7, I write:--
"We left Donelson on the 5th. The roads were terribly muddy, and it
took us two days to get here, about twelve miles. Besides, the weather
was quite cold and snowing, being one of the most blustery days of
March, making the march a most uncomfortable one. But we arrived here
in pretty good season yesterday evening, and were fortunate to get into
the same cabins we occupied when here before.
"The troops here are all embarking on steamboats, and it is understood
that we are to go up the Tennessee River, how far we don't know,
but hope through to Florence, Alabama. It is said (_it is said_,
_reported_, _understood_, _they say_, are unofficial terms, you must
understand) that none of the boats will leave till all the regiments
are embarked, and that the whole fleet will move together. The river is
very high, and on account of backwater we can't get nearer than four
hundred yards of the boats.
"The Twenty-fourth Indiana went up the river this morning to find a
convenient place to embark. We may have to go up there also to get
aboard. Just as we were marching through the cold and snow last night
I met Uncle Tom going down to the boat on his way home. He told me he
had resigned, had caught a severe cold and had a bad cough. I think he
has taken the best course, as his health can hardly stand the exposure."
I refer here to my mother's youngest brother, Captain Thomas Johnson,
whose case was that of many other officers in our army. He had been
suffering for some years with tuberculosis, and would not have been
able to pass the physical examination to which the soldiers in the
ranks were subjected, but the examination of the officers was less
strict. He was not fitted for the service and ought not to have entered
it, but his zeal to serve his country in the time of its sore trial
was so great that he could not be persuaded to stay at home. As we
expected, he broke down within a year of his enlistment. We shall
see that he was not content to remain inactive at home after he was
relieved of his attack of cold, and in less than six months he obtained
an appointment in one of the new regiments, only to be again sent home
before another year of campaigning was over.
As anticipated, the regiment was the next day ordered to go six
miles up the river to get a convenient place of embarkation. The day
following was spent in camp:--
"As I listened to our chaplain in his Sunday service to-day, how I
wished I could have enjoyed our own church service at home with my
wife. As I walked out through the woods this pleasant spring evening
with Colonel Morgan, I could not help thinking of the times we enjoyed
together in our many evening walks. I have been reading to-day the
life of General Havelock, that noble Christian soldier. I was very much
interested in the affectionate and touching letters he wrote his wife
and children; they made me think of my absent ones....
"Adjutant ---- has resigned, and as he wants to go home immediately,
before his resignation can go to St. Louis, be accepted, and returned,
he has applied for a leave of absence. If he gets it, I will send this
letter by him. He puts his resignation on the ground of _ill-health_,
but the young man is mistaken. A look at his fat jaws and healthy
appearance will tell a different tale. He is in as good health as I am.
The trouble with him is homesickness from _love_. We are out of the
range of regular mails, and he can't get letters from his lady-love
often. He can't endure the situation. We tried to talk him out of it,
but he insists. He has at the best taken a bad time to resign, just on
the eve of an important expedition against the enemy. I told him last
night that no one wanted to be at home more than I did, and that if I
could get out of the service honorably in view of my duty, I would do
so, but this I could not do. He can draw his own inference. I think the
young man is making a mistake personally. Here he is drawing a good
salary, and at home he can do nothing, even if he wasn't too lazy."
The next letter was written on board a steamboat lying at the town of
Savannah, Tennessee, dated the 12th:--
"Here we are away down on the southern border of Tennessee, only a few
miles from Alabama and Mississippi, 'away down in Dixie.' We went on
board the steamboats day before yesterday, the 10th, four companies
on the _Uncle Sam_, and six companies on the _Conewaga_, the latter
under my command. We have had a very pleasant trip up the river,
being comfortably situated on the boat, and plenty of good eating.
The Tennessee is quite a pretty river, but not very thickly settled
immediately on its banks. At the farmhouses the people were collected
in little groups, with waving handkerchiefs by the women, and frequent
cheers for the Union. It was a new sight to the inhabitants, such an
immense fleet of boats, black with troops, and bristling with cannon
and munitions of war. The boats are all lying up here, most of them
having arrived this morning, the river full of them on both sides.
It is stated by officers who ought to know that we now have seventy
steamers in the fleet, and that ten more are on the way....
"Remember me to Mr. McCarer and family. Tell him I am afraid we are
persecuting our old-school, southside Presbyterian brethren, as they
have called their General Assembly to meet in Memphis in May. I fear we
shall get in the way of some of them, and scare them away.
"There is a set of chessmen on the boat, and I have had several
pleasant games, the first for a long time. How I would like to take a
game with my dear wife, as of old.
"Large numbers of Union men are coming in both to enlist and for refuge
and protection. Some of them came more than a hundred miles and had to
travel at night, fleeing from the persecutions and cruelties of the
rebels."