Reminiscences of George W. Westgate.
In the fall of 1862, while camped at Nashville, Tenn., Company C went
out on a scouting expedition, with Lieut. Shaw in command. John
Houston, Giles Hodge, Frank Fuller, and George W. Westgate were
advance guard. They were traveling on a piked road, covered with a
gray dust, and their uniforms became covered with it. So much so, that
on approaching two Confederates, who were on outpost picket, they
allowed our boys to ride very near to them, thinking they were their
own men; and the two Confederates were made prisoners, and were left
with the company.
The boys again advanced, across to another pike which led back toward
Nashville. They saw ten Confederates in front of them, pursued them
and captured one, and left him in charge of Houston. They followed the
other nine men until they were cornered in a pasture, surrounded by a
high board fence. Hodge was left at the gate, while Fuller and
Westgate with excited horses, uncontrollable, advanced into the
pasture in close proximity to the Confederates, who were busily
engaged in tearing down the fence, in order to make their escape.
Westgate was unable to stop or guide his horse, which was carrying him
in the direction of the enemy. To save himself from becoming a
prisoner or being killed, he jumped from his horse, throwing all his
weight on the left rein, which caused the horse to whirl half way
around. Just at that moment one of the enemy fired at Westgate, two
buckshot striking him in the hip. His horse ran to the gate, where
Hodge caught it. In the meantime Fuller opened fire with his carbine.
It seems that the buckshot riled Westgate’s temper; because, after his
horse left him he retreated backwards, loading and firing his carbine
as fast as possible at the enemy, until they got the fence down and
escaped. What undoubtedly saved the boys from capture was that the
Confederates momentarily expected Westgate, Fuller, and Hodge to be
reinforced by the company.
When camped near Memphis, Tenn., in 1864, a portion of our regiment
went out on a scouting expedition and was out all night. In the
morning, Albert Scudder, Rube Lewis, Daniel Towner, and George W.
Westgate, received permission to take a little scout of their own to
get a square meal. They were only partly successful. Each got a ham
and decided to go back to camp. As they were riding on a pike across
some bottom land, at the edge of which was a large bridge between them
and camp, Scudder and Lewis being about ten rods in advance of
Westgate and Towner, without warning eight or ten Confederates rose up
out of the brush with their guns pointed at Scudder and Lewis, and
within a few yards of them, demanding their surrender, to which they
reluctantly assented. Westgate and Towner immediately realized their
critical situation and started for the bridge; but when nearing the
Confeds, and seeing almost certain death staring them in the face,
they wheeled so quickly that they imagined they could hear their
horses’ tails snap like a whip, and retreated with such tremendous
speed, that they were almost unable to distinguish objects along the
wayside. They were obliged to retreat through a country infested with
bushwhackers, encountering several squads of them before reaching
camp. They finally reached camp, themselves and horses thoroughly
exhausted, and I believe that the report came that the boys through
all their narrow escapes, clung to the hams which they had purchased,
until they arrived safely in camp. It was also reported that they
intimated their willingness to avoid looking after square meals in the
enemy’s country for some time to come. Scudder and Lewis were taken to
the prison pen, poor fellows. Scudder returned from prison with health
ruined, did not enjoy a day’s good health afterward, and died in the
winter of 1905. Lewis returned with broken health also.
At the Battle of Stone River.
On the morning of Dec. 31, 1862, Lieut. Simmons, of Gen. Palmer’s
staff, and George W. Westgate, of Company C, were sent on an errand by
the General, and when they returned and reported, the enemy’s
sharpshooters opened on them, and Westgate was shot through the right
arm, which laid him up during several months. He was ordered to the
hospital. Soon after this Lieut. Simmons was wounded by a piece of
shell, breaking several of his ribs. A few days later Simmons and
Westgate received permission to go to their homes in Illinois. They
started down the Cumberland River on a steamer, and after passing some
distance down stream, the boat was captured by the Confederate General
Wheeler’s cavalry. Simmons and Westgate, with others, were ordered by
the Confederates to leave the boat and it was destroyed by fire. The
wounded, including Simmons and Westgate, were then transferred to
another boat loaded with wounded on their way north. Westgate remained
at home until his wound healed, then returned to his company, which
was escort for Gen. Palmer. Westgate afterward participated with us in
the battle of Chickamauga, and other engagements.