The 21st of June, just the day before we got back to camp with the
horses, one of our scouts reported a rebel gunboat to come up the river,
so Col. Brackett gave me orders to take ten men and go five miles below
Jacksonport and watch for the boat. In the meantime the camp moved to
the piece of land that divides the Black from the White river. We went
below Jacksonport to the place stated and settled near a bend in the
river where we had a good view of the river four or five miles. We had
not been there long before we saw the black smoke rolling up away down
the river. We waited until she rounded the bend, then fired off our
carbines as we had orders and started back to camp. The inhabitants of
Jacksonport had professed to be Union people, but as soon as they heard
that a rebel gunboat was coming up they altered their tune and called us
all the mean names they could think of. Our officers had even put guards
over their wells so as to keep the soldiers away. One woman in
particular had given our officers a great deal of trouble. She was a
good Union woman at that, and a widow. She wanted a guard to keep the
soldiers off her premises, and our officers were just fools enough to do
it.
Well, we were the last soldiers to go through the town, and, let me tell
you, the gunboat was coming faster than we had any idea of. Just before
we reached the town she sent a shell over our heads. We soon got in
shelter of the town, and the citizens commenced to yell at us. Some said
one thing and some another. Finally we came up in front of where the
widow lived. She was out on the porch dressed in all her finery. As we
were passing she called out:
"Is that what you Yankees call skedaddling?" One of our men turned in
his saddle and said something that made her skip in the house in a
hurry.
We rode on until we got to the ferry, which was nothing but an old scow
of a boat. We were soon on the boat, and in the meantime the gunboat had
swung around and commenced throwing shells at us. The first shell went
over us; the next struck the water a hundred yards from us, and the
third struck close and threw the water all over us. Our horses became
unmanageable. One jumped overboard and the rest came near upsetting the
boat. The one that jumped overboard swam to shore all right. We landed
our horses and one man went back in a small boat and got it and cut the
rope.
We had two large twelve-pound brass guns, and never fired a shot at the
boat. I never did understand why they did not. But I know this much
about it, we were ordered to mount and get out of there. We went back
about eight or ten miles and met troops coming to reinforce us. The next
morning we went back to Jacksonport, but found the gunboat gone.
There was a large quantity of sugar stored at this place, and the
Johnnies rolled out the hogsheads and spilt the sugar in the middle of
the road. Our horses waded knee deep in sugar for two hundred yards. The
farmers came in droves and shoveled the sugar into their wagons like
sand.
That night it rained. The ditches on both sides of the road were full of
molasses. The citizens had a little more manners when we came back;
there were no more guards put over wells, and not so much punishing
going on if one of our men was caught foraging on his own hook.
In a few days after this there were two companies sent out foraging, and
some time in the afternoon we heard firing in the direction the foragers
had gone. "Boots and saddles" were sounded and the balance of the Ninth
was on their way to reinforce. We soon came up with the teamsters who
were driving for "dear life." We passed them and came up to where our
men had formed a line. The rebels had also formed a line about three
hundred yards in advance, and were crowding our men back, but as soon as
we reinforced our men it turned the tide of the skirmish. We drove them
back. I do not think it lasted over half an hour and after we got
through we had forty men wounded and three killed outright. This
occurred June 12th, 1862, and was the first time I had been in a
skirmish. The rebels were mostly armed with double-barrelled shot-guns.
Their loss was eleven killed and thirty wounded. We then went back to
camp.
Skirmishing now became almost an every day occurrence. Two companies
were started on a foraging expedition down White river. After they got
ten or twelve miles below Jacksonport two companies of rebels came up on
the other side. As soon as they came in sight of one another they opened
fire. The river at this point was five hundred yards across. Finally the
rebels ceased firing, and one tall rebel stepped out from behind a tree
and hollered over to our men and said:
"I will dare any single Yank to step out and have a fair, open stand up
and fight with me, and we are to keep on firing until one goes down."
Out jumped our Jim. "All right, Johnnie, are you ready?" Now, both sides
cased firing and looked on with interest. Jim was a splendid shot, and
as cool as if shooting at a target. Both guns went off at once. The
Johnnie called over, "Are you hit, Yank?"
"Not by a darned sight. Are you?"
"I'm all right, Yank."
Jim took particular pains in loading. Both brought their guns to the
ground together, reached and got a cartridge together, and pulled their
ramrods together. The Johnnie pulled his out with a jerk and it flew ten
feet away. By the time he had regained it and straightened up, Jim's gun
was loaded. He brought it to his shoulder, took steady aim and fired.
The rebel brought his hand to his breast with a slap and down he went.
Just at this moment the rebels got a large reinforcement with artillery,
and we were forced to fall back. A few days after, a rebel deserter came
to our camp and told us that the rebel who fought Jim was in a fair way
to get well, and that the bullet had struck in the center of a large
package of letters that he had in his breast pocket and only made a
slight flesh wound.
We then returned to camp. It was getting late in the summer, and the
country was infested with small bands of guerillas. A great many of them
were fighting on their own hook, that is, they were nothing but robbers.
They robbed the southern and Union people, and if they happened to run
onto a small company of Union soldiers whom they could overpower by
numbers, and take them prisoners, they would march them out into the
woods and shoot them. Such fellows never came out in an open fight, but
were always sneaking around in the brush, and that is what gave them the
name of bushwhackers. If by accident one of our men was caught alone by
the bushwhackers we never heard of him again. They would take him out in
the woods and shoot him, pull off his clothes, and leave his body to be
devoured by turkey-buzzards, and that is why so many rebel soldiers were
dressed in blue.
The women folks were even worse than the men; they poisoned the wells,
and poisoned provisions and left them where our boys could easily find
them, and at the same time rebel planters would call on our generals for
protection. As sure as they found out that our army was coming that
way, they would want a protection guard to keep the Yanks off their
premises, and our officers would almost always grant their request.
One nice morning I had orders to report to headquarters. As I came up in
front of headquarters tent, Col. Brackett came out with a letter in his
hand and said:
"Sergeant, you are ordered to take two men and go ten miles up the White
river to a planter's house and to guard the property while some of Gen.
Curtis' men are passing. Allow no soldier on his premises."
I did not like that kind of a job, but orders had to be obeyed; so I
went down to camp and found Jim and a comrade by the name of Thorne, and
started for the old Reb's plantation. We got there all right, rode up to
the front of the house and dismounted. There were two men sitting on the
porch, one a gray-headed man and the other a young man. They proved to
be father and son. As I went in the gate two young ladies came out on
the porch, followed by a colored woman carrying chairs for them. When we
first rode up, I noticed that when the young man saw we were Union
soldiers he was very uneasy. I stepped upon the first step and raised my
hat and asked who was the proprietor. The old gentleman said,
"I am." I handed him a letter and he opened it and examined it a long
time, and finally called to one of the girls and said:
"Come here, Mary, and see if you can make this out."
"No, pa, I can't make it out at all."
Then the old man turned to me and said, "It may be, stranger, that you
can read this," at the same time handing me the letter.
"Well, sir, this is what it says: 'Gen. Curtis sends his compliments to
you and sends guards to protect your property while the Union army is
passing.'"
"Oh, you are the guards?"
In a little while a young darkey appeared, and the man told him to show
the gentlemen where to put the horses. I told Jim to see that they were
taken care of. As they disappeared around the house the old man invited
me to take a chair which old aunty had provided for me. No sooner had I
taken the chair than the old gentleman began telling me how mean our men
had served him; stole his chickens and pigs, and, said he,
"I am a Union man, and my son here is also, and of course we want
protection."
Just at this moment Thorne and Jim came around with the arms. Jim
handed me my revolver and carbine. The house was the double log kind,
with a kind of hall between the two houses, and a porch running the
whole length of both parts, facing the road, and stood back from the
road about twenty yards.
Away around a bend in the road to the right over a cornfield we could
see the dust rolling up over the corn, as if a lot of horsemen were
coming. Said I,
"Mister, supposing they are confederates, what are we to do?"
"Oh, you're all right. I'll see that you are not hurt."
Then I knew that he was no Union man, or he would have no influence with
the Rebs; for be it known that there was not a Union man in the south
but what was spotted, and was as much hated as we hated the copperheads
of the north.
I could see that the young man was watching the cloud of dust with great
interest. One of the girls jumped to her feet and went in and brought
out a field-glass. The troops now began to come around the bend in the
road.
"They are confederates," said the girl.
Our orders were to stay until our troops passed, so there was no
alternative for us but to stay. There were about seven hundred
confederates, and all mounted. They rode up in front of the house, and
the planter and his family all walked out to the fence. The rebel
Colonel dismounted, and we could see that they were talking earnestly
about us, for they cast glances our way quite often. The rebel soldiers
were yelling at us, wanting to know if we had any horses to trade. The
rebel Colonel made a motion for me to advance. I stepped out to the
gate.
"To what regiment do you belong," the Colonel asked.
"I belong to the Ninth Illinois Cavalry."
"Where are you stationed?" he asked.
"I'm stationed at Jacksonport."
"How many are there of you?"
"Do you take me for a fool?" said I.
"Oh no, I take you for a Yankee soldier. This gentleman told me that you
were sent as a protection guard, and I want to tell you that you are
perfectly safe, as far as we are concerned. Do you know when your men
are to pass here?"
"I do not know anything about it."
By this time quite a number of the soldiers had got over the fence and
were talking to Jim and Thorne. It was getting late in the afternoon,
and away off in the west could be heard distant thunder. The Colonel
ordered them to mount, and they rode on about half a mile and went into
camp. I noticed that the young man went with them.
Every move that was made by the family we were guarding showed them to
be rebels. The great, black clouds came rolling up from the west. The
lightning was something fearful to behold, and the deep bass thunder
shook the earth to its very foundation. The negroes were running in
every direction. It could easily be seen that they were terribly
frightened at the approaching storm. Great drops of rain began to fall.
"Just then the rebel Colonel and two captains came riding up, threw
themselves from the saddle and told the darkey to put their horses under
shelter. As the darkey was leading the horses there came a flash of
lightning, and a deafening crash of thunder followed so closely that it
seemed more like the noise of a cannon. One of the horses rose up on his
hind feet and struck the darkey with his front feet and sent him
sprawling on the ground. At that all three started up to the rebel camp
on a run and disappeared round a bend in the road. The old gentleman was
standing out on the porch. He spoke to another darkey and told him to go
and see if Sam was dead. Just then Sam rose to a sitting position and
looked up and saw us gazing at him and hollered out,
"Oh, massa, I is dunderstruck!"
The rain now began to pour down and the wind was blowing fearfully. The
darkey jumped to his feet and made for a place of shelter. We all went
into the house. It was getting quite dark. They were obliged to light
candles. In a few minutes a colored woman came to the door and announced
supper.
"Now," said the old gentleman, "I want you confederates and you federals
to come and eat at the same table, and I want it understood that there
is to be no quarreling."
As we filed into the dining room we laid our arms in one corner of the
room and sat down to the table. I sat next to a rebel Captain, and the
rebel Colonel and the two girls sat opposite us. Every time that the
Captain who sat next to me had anything to say it was a slur on the
Yankees. The rebel Colonel did not approve of his actions, for he
frequently shook his head at him. Finally the Captain said:
"I believe I could lick twenty Yanks alone. I know I could if they were
all like these we have here."
I turned to the old gentleman and said:
"We came here to guard you and your family and not to be insulted."
"Well," said the old man, "I am very sorry this has occurred."
"Well," said Jim, "it was not two weeks ago that one of your men
challenged one of our men to come out and have a square stand-up fight
across White river. He probably thought he could get away with twenty
Yankees too, but, Mr. Reb, I went out and had a fair fight with him and
got away with him, too, so if you think you can get away with twenty
Yanks such as are here, you can try me in the morning. If you get away
with me, you will have two more to try your hand on."
The old gentleman jumped up and said,
"I want this thing stopped, and want it distinctly understood that there
will be no fighting here."
We finished our supper in silence, and as we were rising to leave the
table, I said,
"My opinion is, you will all get all the fighting you want before
to-morrow night;" and I proved to be a good prophet that time.