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[Illustration:
COL. P. SIDNEY POST. LIEUT. COL. C. H. FREDRICK.
LIEUT. COL. CLAYTON HALL. MAJ. J. M. STOOKEY.
D^R. H. J. MAYNARD. ADJT. FRANK CLARK.
CAPT. MINNETT. CAPT. J. C. HENDERSON.
Lith. by W^m. BRADEN & C^o. Indianapolis.]
THE HISTORY OF THE FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENT ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS,
OR A THREE YEARS' CAMPAIGN THROUGH MISSOURI, ARKANSAS, MISSISSIPPI,
TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, TOWNS,
SKIRMISHES AND BATTLES--INCIDENTS, CASUALTIES AND ANECDOTES MET WITH
ON THE WAY; AND EMBELLISHED WITH TWENTY-FOUR LITHOGRAPHED PORTRAITS
OF THE OFFICERS OF THE REGIMENT.
BY DR. D. LATHROP.
HALL & HUTCHINSON,
PRINTERS AND BINDERS, INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
1865.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five,
BY DR. DAVID LATHROP,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for
the District of Indiana.
HALL & HUTCHINSON, STEREOTYPERS, PRINTERS AND BINDERS.
INTRODUCTION.
Early in the month of May, 1861, C. H. Frederick and David McGibbon,
two prominent citizens of St. Louis, Mo., called on General Lyon, and
proffered to raise a regiment of infantry, to serve for three years, or
during the war. C. H. Frederick, having previously served his country
in a military capacity, and being familiar with military tactics, was
deemed by General Lyon, a very suitable person to engage in the
undertaking, and immediately authorized to recruit and organize a
regiment, and to have command of the same.
Colonel Frederick, at the breaking out of the rebellion, was engaged in
a lucrative business in St. Louis, but at the call of his country he
sacrificed his profitable interests, and gave his energies to the
preservation of the Union. After an immense amount of difficulty,
Colonel Frederick and his co-worker, Major McGibbon, working night and
day, succeeded in enlisting enough loyal friends in and around St.
Louis, to enable them to accomplish their purpose. By the middle of
June three companies, and a nucleus of the fourth, was collected and
rendezvoused at the St. Louis arsenal. Captains Hale, Renfrew, Veatch,
and Elliott commanding.
About this time Captain S. W. Kelly was induced to become a recruiting
officer, to assist in filling up the regiment. By the 24th of June he
had recruited seventy men in his own neighborhood, and on that day an
election was held, and S. W. Kelly was unanimously elected Captain,
John Kelly First Lieutenant, and H. J. Maynard Second Lieutenant. On
the 6th day of August, 1861, Captain Kelly numbered on the muster roll
of his company, (F,) at the St. Louis Arsenal, seventy-one men; and
through his influence three other companies had joined in the
organization of the regiment. Captain Stookey, of Belleville, Ill., had
recruited a large company of men for the service, and was now induced
to join this regiment, thus making nine companies in rendezvous at the
Arsenal on the 6th day of August.
As soon as the first three companies were formed, and before they were
uniformed, they were sent down to Cape Girardeau, Mo., that place being
threatened by the enemy, to assist in building fortifications. As soon
as the next three companies were mustered in, and before they were
uniformed, they were ordered to Pilot Knob, Mo. Here they underwent
great hardship, not having uniforms or blankets, and scarcely anything
to make them comfortable. The other three companies on their arrival at
St. Louis, were sent with Colonel Frederick up the South-west branch of
the Pacific railroad, to protect the bridges, etc., in order to keep
that road open for the retreat of General Lyon's army after their
defeat at Wilson's Creek, Mo. This work being accomplished, Colonel
Frederick returned to St. Louis, and after overcoming many difficulties
succeeded in getting the nine companies back to the arsenal. The next
thing to be done, was to have them uniformed and drilled. This, also,
was perseveringly and successfully attended to by the Colonel and Major
McGibbon.
The men and the officers with one or two exceptions, were sadly
deficient in a knowledge of military tactics or drills, and Colonel
Frederick consequently took upon himself the task of drilling the
regiment daily. In a short space of time he succeeded in making them
quite well acquainted with company and battalion drills.
About the 1st of September 1861, Colonel Frederick and Major McGibbon,
in order to promote the welfare of the regiment and secure good to the
Union cause, tendered the command to Captain J. C. Kelton, then A.A.G.
for General Fremont. Captain Kelton, after a time, accepted the command
with the proviso that Frederick should have the Lieut. Colonelcy, and
McGibbon the Majority. This arrangement was speedily confirmed by an
election of the officers of the regiment, and the organization became
complete,--one company only being required to make a full regiment.
Upon Colonel Kelton assuming command, he procured the Tenth Company,
viz. Company K, Captain Snyder, of Chicago, Ills., commanding, and this
completed the Ninth Missouri, Volunteer Regiment.
Company K, was organized in the city of Chicago in the month of
September, 1861. A majority of the men were recruited by Lieutenant
Abram J. Davids. It was originally intended as a company of sappers and
miners, to be attached to Bissell's Engineer Regiment of the West. At
least that was the inducement held out to the men. On the 5th of
September the company was not quite full, and its services being needed
immediately, forty-five men were taken from the Forty-Second Illinois,
(then organizing at Chicago), and enrolled with the company on its
muster into service on the 6th day of September, making an aggregate of
ninety-seven men. Their camp equipage was drawn on the night of the
6th, and on the morning of the 7th marched under the command of Captain
Henry N. Snyder, to the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis depot, and took
the cars for St. Louis. They arrived at Illinoistown the evening of the
same day, and in the morning crossed the Mississippi, and marched
through St. Louis to Benton barracks; they here learned that they were
to be attached to the Ninth Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry. It
caused considerable dissatisfaction in the company, not that they had
any objection to the regiment, but they wished to enter the arm of
service for which they were recruited. Notwithstanding, there was no
disobedience of orders.
On the 2d of September they were armed with Harper's Ferry rifles, and
well equipped throughout; no company in the service ever started out
better supplied with ordnance and camp equipage. On the afternoon of
the 22d of September they left Benton barracks, marched to the depot,
and took the cars en route for Jefferson City, where they arrived the
next evening. They joined the Ninth Missouri on the following morning,
and embarked with them on the steamer War Eagle, September 30th, bound
for Boonville.
On the 22d of September, 1861, the regiment was ordered to Jefferson
City, Mo., and on the 26th again ordered to Boonville, Mo. After
remaining in camp a short time, Colonel Kelton was placed in command of
a brigade, under General Pope. The brigade consisted of the Ninth
Missouri, Lieut. Colonel Frederick, commanding; Thirty-Seventh
Illinois, Colonel Julius White, commanding, and the Fifth Iowa, Colonel
Worthington, commanding.
While at the St. Louis Arsenal, two companies under the command of
Lieut. Colonel C. H. Frederick, were sent by Colonel F. P. Blair, up
the Mississippi river to Howell's Island, where he captured five
valuable steamboats from the hands of the rebels, who were about to use
them to cross their forces to the south side, to join the rebel General
Price. The total value of property thus secured from the hands of the
rebels, amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He also
skirmished over the island in search of a rebel camp, and by this
movement it was effectually broken up. Those two companies were
composed of picked men from the different companies of the regiment.
Contents
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXX.
HISTORY OF THE FIFTY-NINTH REGIMENT,
ILLINOIS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
CHAPTER I.
The Fifty Ninth Illinois Regiment entered the service of the United
States, on the 6th day of September, 1861, under the cognomen of Ninth
Missouri, at St. Louis, in that State. At that time the State of
Illinois had filled her quota of volunteers, and would not receive the
services of the patriotic young men who had collected themselves
together for the purpose of preserving the glorious Union, then in
danger of being severed.
The call of the President for seventy-five thousand volunteers, as well
as that for forty-two thousand, had been so speedily filled by men
whose business engagements, and perhaps entire want of business,
permitted to enter the service without much sacrifice on their part,
excluded, for the time being, these noble men from entering the service
in the name of their own State. Although disappointed, they were still
determined to devote their services to their country in some useful
field of labor. Missouri was the most convenient and available State
for this purpose, and was willing to accept of their aid, and hence the
companies were organized into the Ninth Regiment of Missouri
Volunteers, on the 6th of September, 1861.
General Fremont was in command of the department of Missouri, and as
soon as the regiment was fully equipped, he ordered that it should
report to General Pope, at Jefferson City, Mo. In the best of spirits
the men left the old barracks and marched to the river for embarkation.
The old and rickety steamer War Eagle lay in waiting, with steam up, to
receive them. A very pleasant and lively time was passed in going up,
and on their arrival at Jefferson City, a pretty camping ground
received them, to await further orders. Here the regiment lay in camp
until the 30th of September, when they were again embarked for farther
up the river.
At Jefferson City the regiment was joined by a pioneer company of
ninety-seven men, and by a squad of twenty men recruited by Captain
Kelly, of Company F, who fell into ranks as the regiment was
re-embarking on the same old War Eagle, for "up the river."
The embarkation of a regiment, was, at that early day of the war, an
exciting scene. Never before had such scenes been witnessed by the
citizens of our inland river towns, nor had the men of the regiment
ever before exhibited themselves to the gaze of the populace in such a
display as they now did. The regiment was first marched in column down
to the wharf, and ordered to stack arms. Then, as the way was open, one
company at a time was marched to the boat and took quarters as
directed. The quarters of each soldier consisted of just room enough to
stand, or sit upon his knapsack on the floor, selected somewhere within
the region of his own company. The regiment as it marched to the
landing, to the time of the fife and drum, attracted the notice of the
whole city. Its appearance was really captivating. The uniform being
all new and unsoiled, and consisting of a closely fitting jacket of
fine gray cloth, and pants of the same material, looked exceedingly
neat and pleasing to the eye, and their knapsacks, cartridge boxes and
guns, all new, and glistering in the sunshine, caused a sensation
indescribable. No regiment has ever entered the service with more ├ęclat
than the Ninth Missouri. The men, wagons, horses and mules, all being
huddled indiscriminately on board, the bell rang, and the old boat
steamed up the turbid Missouri. During the night the boat rounded to at
Boonville, Mo., and the regiment went into camp here for fourteen days,
for the purpose of collecting supplies and fitting up for a campaign
into the interior.
Boonville is a pretty town, of perhaps one thousand inhabitants, and is
situated on the right bank of the Missouri River. It seems to be quite
a flourishing place, and has something of an inland trade. The country
in the vicinity is good and under good cultivation, and the
improvements on the adjoining farms are excellent. The land is
considerably broken, but very productive. It is a most splendid fruit
country. No country in the world can produce larger and finer apples
and peaches, than that around Boonville, as the soldiers of the Ninth
can testify. It is also a fine grape region and can boast of many fine
vineyards. Wine is made here to some extent, as the Ninth can also
testify, for they had the pleasure of tasting some of it, as well as
having plenty of fruit while in camp here. A majority of the citizens
are professedly friends to the cause of the Union, and are disposed to
treat the soldier kindly and with hospitality, so long, at least, as
the Union army is in the neighborhood. There are some who turn the cold
shoulder and show a disposition to insult and annoyance, but they are
more numerous in the country than in town, and this is more to our
liking than otherwise; for it is but little we need from the citizens
in town, but from the country we need mules, horses and forage, and
confiscation is now the order of the day.
As soon as the regiment had comfortably arranged camp, a detail was
made to go into the country prospecting for contraband stock. There
were twelve or fifteen wagons to each regiment to be furnished with
mules or horses, at the rate of six to a team. The boys were not many
days in finding stock enough to supply the demand, and in doing so they
found some amusement for themselves, and received many deep and bitter
curses from the owners of the stock.
Some four miles down the river, lived a wealthy old rebel sympathizer,
who possessed several mules and some fine horses, which the boys took a
fancy to, and concluded they must have. The old gentleman stubbornly
refused to give them up, and made threats to shoot any one who
attempted to interfere with his property. The prospecting party were
too few in number to catch the mules and bring them off, so they
started one of their number to camp after reinforcements, while the
others remained to guard the stock, and amuse the old secesh with some
of their Union arguments. The old man, at first, seemed very uneasy,
but after a time quieted himself so as to apparently enjoy the society
of the boys very much. Thus time passed until night approached, and
supper was announced. The boys partook of the bounties of the table,
and again engaged the old gentleman in conversation, and thus the hours
went by till bed time. An invitation to retire was proffered them,
which they politely refused, preferring rather to bunk it on the floor,
where they were, than to indulge the luxury of sheets and feathers. If
the old gentleman entertained any suspicions of roguery on the part of
the boys, he gave no indications of the fact, but quietly wished them a
good night's rest, and withdrew to his own apartment for the night.
About three in the morning, the reinforcements arrived from camp, and
quietly proceeded to let out and drive the mules off to town, while the
boys on guard bridled and saddled four good horses and joined the
detachment. Early in the morning, the old farmer presented himself to
Colonel Kelton with his complaints. Patiently the Colonel listened to
him, and then gave him vouchers for his confiscated property, to be
paid if he should prove himself a faithful, good citizen of the United
States. Thus, in the course of ten days, was the wagons all supplied
with good teams.
Other preparations for a campaign being nearly completed, the regiment
was in daily anticipation of a move. The sick were sent to town to be
left at hospital. Dr. H. J. Maynard, First Assistant Surgeon of the
regiment, was assigned to the duty of fitting up quarters for their
reception, and with energy of purpose and goodness of heart he
performed the duty. Fifty of the regiment were unfitted to start on the
campaign on account of sickness. There were many cases of measles. This
disease had attacked some of the boys at Jefferson City; three of whom
were left in hospital there. Many of the cases left in charge of Dr.
Maynard, were critical, but by his kind care and good treatment,
speedily recovered.
The regiment was now in good condition for a march, and the boys all
anxious to try the realities of a campaign. The weather was delightful
and the roads good. Price and his army was somewhere in the country,
and every one desired to be after him. Drilling had been faithfully
practiced since coming to Boonville, and the men began to feel like old
soldiers in military tactics, and were confident if they could overtake
Price he would be defeated, and the war in Missouri would be speedily
terminated. Orders finally came to march, and on the morning of the
12th of October, all was hurry and confusion in preparation for the
start. Tents were to be struck and the wagons loaded. Knapsacks were to
be packed and comfortably fitted to the back; haversacks to be filled
with plenty of rations; wild mules to be caught from the corral and
hitched to the wagons; and last, though not least, pretty apple girls
and wash women to be settled with before leaving. All was accomplished
in due time, and about noon the brigade moved out.
Three regiments composed the brigade: the Ninth Missouri, the Fifth
Iowa and the Thirty-seventh Illinois--three as good regiments as ever
shouldered a musket. Colonel Kelton was in command of the brigade.
While in camp here, two boys who had joined the regiment at St. Louis,
deserted, and were never heard of. Their names are now forgotten, as
they should be, and they themselves are now perhaps, if living, no more
than wandering vagabonds.