After resting four days at Louisville, the regiment, on the morning of
the 1st of October, received orders to pack up and be ready to move out
at ten o'clock. The army was partially re-organized at Louisville, and
the Fifty-Ninth Illinois, Twenty-Second Indiana, Seventy-Fifth Illinois
and Seventy-Fourth Illinois regiments composed the Third Brigade of the
Ninth Division of the army of the Ohio, with Colonel P. S. Post, of the
Fifty-Ninth Illinois, commanding; and Brigadier General Jeff. C. Davis
commanding the division. The command of the Fifty-Ninth now again
devolved on the Lieutenant Colonel, C. H. Frederick. At ten o'clock the
brigade moved out, and, passing through the city, took the Bardstown
road.
It was now known that General Bragg, with thirty-five thousand men, was
at Bardstown, Kentucky, and the supposition was that General Buell
would meet him at that place, where a general engagement would be had.
Bardstown is thirty-five miles from Louisville and a forced march of
twenty-four hours would bring the two armies together.
The old troops were all anxious to overtake the rebel army and give it
battle. They had marched from one point to another until they had lost
all patience, and would rather fight the enemy, two to one, than follow
him any further. The new troops were also willing to encounter the foe
if necessary--but would as soon have remained at Louisville, with their
paper collars and black boots, and their nice light bread and butter.
The first day or two after leaving the city these green soldiers looked
upon the war-worn veterans as dirty, lousy fellows, unfit for
associates to such nice clean gentlemen as they were. Two or three days
march, however, began to reverse the feeling and by the time their
appetite for hard tack and sow-belly had become of full growth they
looked upon the old regiments with some degree of reverence and a
considerable amount of awe. While they were dragging their sore and
weary feet along, the old soldier marched with ease and martial
bearing, and while these poor fellows were mincing and making wry faces
at fat bacon and pilot bread, and dreaming of butter and baker's bread,
the veterans were delighting over their good fare, and resting well o'
nights. And the lice preferring new fields of enterprise, left their
old haunts and established new quarters on these fresh troops.
Although two days easy marching would have taken the army to Bardstown,
its advance did not arrive there until the fourth, and then only to
find the town evacuated by the enemy. The Fifty-Ninth passed through
Bardstown and encamped one mile east. Here the sick was selected from
those able to march and sent back to hospital. Here, also, P. Sidney
Post, commanding brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Frederick, commanding
regiment, remained behind, by order of the Surgeon, on account of ill
health. The command of the regiment, in the absence of Frederick,
devolved, of course, upon the Major, J. C. Winters.
It was now rumored that the enemy would give battle either at Danville
or some selected position this side. The three succeeding days were
therefore taken up in reconnoitering and slow marching. On the morning
of the 8th cannonading was heard some distance to the left, and the
command, of which the Fifty-Ninth formed a part, was advanced some two
or three miles in the direction of Perryville. The cannonading
continued with only short intervals during the day. The Ninth Division
changed positions slightly during the day, but did not get within
striking distance of the enemy until just before the dusk of the
evening and only one brigade of this division _then_ became engaged.
The enemy had met the left wing of our army early in the morning, and
the battle had raged along the line towards the center until the whole
left wing had become engaged, and now, about four o'clock, the right of
the left wing was being rapidly forced back by an overwhelming
concentration of the rebel forces.
To save his division from utter destruction, General McCook sent an
urgent request that the Third Brigade of General Davis' division be
immediately forwarded to the rescue. The Third Brigade is composed of
the Fifty-Ninth Illinois, Twenty-Second Indiana, Seventy-Fourth and
Seventy-Fifth Illinois. The Seventy-Fourth and Seventy-Fifth were new
regiments, just from home. The distance to the point of danger was
something less than a mile. It was now nearly sunset. Cheerfully the
brigade marched out to meet the foe. The men had been held within
hearing distance of the fearful carnage all day, with feelings akin to
those of the chained lion when most eager for his prey.
Many were the inquiries, "Why are all these thousands of soldiers kept
here idle all the day so near the battle-field?" "Why not move them to
the assistance of our brave boys on the left?" The General in command
alone stands responsible to his country and his God for a satisfactory
answer to these inquiries.
Very many of those who witnessed the movement of the army at Perryville
believe in their hearts that General Buell desired the destruction of
his own army instead of that of Braxton Bragg's. The good generalship
of his subordinates, and the bravery of the troops engaged, most
gloriously defeated his designs.
It is impossible to give a description of the part the Third Brigade
played in this dreadful tragedy.
The brigade was commanded by Colonel Goodin, of the Twenty-Second
Indiana. The Colonel bravely conducted the regiments to the position
assigned them, but before he could form them in battle array, the enemy
opened fire with grape and cannister from their batteries, and poured
volley after volley of musketry into his ranks. Nothing daunted, the
brave men returned the fire with fatal effect for half an hour, each
one loading and firing as rapidly as possible without order or system.
The enemy at this point had massed their forces for the purpose of
turning the right flank of the left wing, which, if accomplished, would
have placed it entirely at their mercy, and numbered at least ten to
one of our brigade. It was useless to attempt to resist this mighty
host, and the order was therefore given for each one to provide for his
own safety. Major Winters, of the Fifty-Ninth, repeated the order the
third time before the men ceased firing, and then they most reluctantly
left the field. Fortunately the ground on which the brigade was halted
by the proximity of the enemy was most favorable. Owing to the dusk of
the evening and the favorable formation of the ground many of the rebel
bullets overshot the mark. Those on horseback were in the most danger.
The escape, however, of any of the brigade seems almost a miracle. The
slaughter of the rebels in that half hour was dreadful. The idea of
cutting off and capturing the left wing of the "Yankee army," as one of
the wounded prisoners remarked the next morning, was driven from
"Braxton's cranium." That night they evacuated the field, leaving their
dead to show the execution of the Third Brigade in thinning their ranks
during that short contest. The ground was literally covered with the
dead and wounded of both sides. The loss to the Third was heavy, but to
the rebels enormous. Every shot from the patriot guns must have taken
effect.
The Fifty-Ninth, on going into the trap, numbered two hundred and
ninety-one men, and on coming out brought off one hundred and
eighty-three--leaving one hundred and eight on the field; twenty-three
of whom were killed, sixty-two wounded, and twenty-three taken
prisoners. Some of the other regiments lost more heavily. The wounded
all lay on the field until next morning. The rebels holding the ground
until daylight. As soon as it was ascertained that the enemy had
retreated, the ambulances were sent out to gather up the wounded and
convey them to hospital. The pen can convey no adequate conception of
the scene presented on that small field that morning.
In the approach to the ground, the ambulances pass through a lane
leading from some thick-timbered land to the mansion of the plantation
on which the trap was set. Leaving the timber, a small open field on
each side of the lane is passed, and then a thinly-wooded pasture-field
to the left, and open fields on the right, extending to and surrounding
the house. The appearance of the field now shows that the rebels were
advancing en mass, through these open fields, from the mansion towards
the thinly-wooded field to the left, when the Third Brigade was marched
in, directly in front of them, to the wooded pasture-field. The
distance from the house to this field was less than half a mile.
Through the lower side of this field a small ravine passed, and from it
the ground gradually ascended towards the mansion. The Third was
marched down this ravine, and in easy range of the rebel muskets. The
ravine was not deep enough to protect entirely from the rebel bullets,
but the rising ground in front caused the enemy to overshoot, to a
great extent. In this little woods-pasture lay the dead and wounded of
the Third, with now and then a rebel in the midst, showing that our
boys had fired as they fell back, and killed some of their pursuers.
The grounds between this and the house, to the right and left, was
strewn with dead rebels. More than five to one of those in the field,
belonging to the Third, was here stretched out, in full possession of
their deserved Southern rights.
The sixty-two wounded of the Fifty-Ninth were soon collected, and
carefully transported to hospital, among whom was Adjutant Samuel West.
Samuel West entered the service as a private, in Captain Hale's company
(A.) He was appointed Sergeant-Major soon after the organization of the
regiment, and, during the campaigns through Missouri and Arkansas, most
satisfactorily performed the duties of that position. On the march he
was daily seen with his knapsack on his back, keeping step with the men
in the ranks, and in camp he was constantly engaged in doing his own
legitimate business, as well as the principal part of that belonging to
the commanding officer of the regiment. When Adjutant P. Sidney Post
received his commission as Colonel of the regiment, West was promoted
to the place of Adjutant. This position he has filled, with honor to
himself and much benefit to the regiment, until now. At the battle of
Pea Ridge, as Sergeant-Major, he gave that indication of bravery, and
coolness in battle, which so clearly manifested itself at Perryville,
while striving to preserve order and encourage the men to battle
valiantly for their country. Very soon after coming in sight of the
enemy, a ball hit him in the leg, above the knee, and soon another, and
another, and yet another, and still another, which brought him from his
horse, and he was carried from the field. Five times was the leaden
messenger sent into his person, but, fortunately, at no vital point.
Although so many times severely wounded, he eventually recovered, with
the loss of only one eye. The loss was great, to be sure, but thankful,
no doubt, was the Adjutant to escape with even so great a loss.
Another of the severely wounded was Captain Charles F. Adams,
commanding Company I. Captain Adams was promoted from First Lieutenant,
soon after the resignation of the former Captain of the Company,
(Captain James A. Beach,) and, by his gentlemanly manners and kind
treatment of his men, had become very much endeared to them. He was
mortally wounded, and died in hospital, on the 15th day of October,
1862.
Company A lost one man killed--Francis W. Goff.
Company B lost its First Lieutenant--A. R. Johnson--than whom no one
was more highly esteemed. He had always been a faithful soldier, and a
good officer. His manners and habits were those of a gentleman and a
christian.
The killed of Company C were Corporal F. C. Cherry, Henry Imel, William
H. Blane, Thomas Loyd, James M. Jones, William H. Japaw. Of Company D,
Thomas Abbott, Elias Walden. Company F: William H. Layman, Leander
Reese, George W. Malatt. Company G: Sergeant William R. March, Harry M.
Strickland, James Cade and Joseph Geering, who died on the 11th from
the effects of his wounds. Company K, Christian Assmus.
Doctor Hazlett, the Surgeon of the Regiment, was, also, numbered
amongst the slain. He was shot through the neck while dressing the
wound of a soldier. His remains were found the next morning, and
through the instrumentality of Captain Snyder, of Company K, were
respectably buried beneath the sheltering branches of an evergreen tree
that stood close beside the spot where he was found. His boots had been
stolen from his feet. A gold watch, and several hundred dollars in
money, had been taken from his pockets. His hat, and a splendid case of
instruments, were also gone. The Doctor rode a very fine horse, most
splendidly caparisoned, and he, too, was gone.
In Doctor Hazlett the regiment had lost a very fine gentleman, and a
scholar. He was not so universally respected by the men of the regiment
as he, perhaps, deserved. His position was one requiring peculiar
abilities, which, in many respects, the Doctor was deficient in.
Surgical skill will secure a full reputation at the operating table,
but something more is required to secure the entire approbation of a
regiment of indiscriminating soldiers. His head was covered with hair
silvered o'er, not with age, but naturally, and some gave him the
epithet of "Tow-head." His prescriptions consisted largely in quinine,
and hence the name of "Quinine" was frequently applied.
He, one time after a hard day's march, proposed to treat the regiment
to a good "snort" of whisky. This was received with a hurrah by the
men, but, on taking the "snort," it was so bitter with quinine that the
wry faces along the line were universal.
Captain Clayton Hale, who was now acting Major, had his horse shot from
under him while in advance of the regiment, transmitting orders to the
men. He soon, however, procured another, and with it made his escape.
Colonel Goodin, commanding the brigade, was captured, and, with the
other prisoners, taken to General Bragg's head-quarters, where they
were paroled, and sent back into the Union lines.
The 9th was principally occupied in burying the dead and providing for
the wounded. The regiment, however, moved about one mile farther to the
right, and lay in that position until noon of the 10th, when it again
moved some four miles in the opposite direction, going into camp near
the point where the battle first commenced, on the morning of the 8th.
Here were many indications of the severity of the contest. Dead rebels
were everywhere met with, through the woods, as yet unburied. Two of
them lay within twenty steps of the regiment for twenty-four hours
after its arrival there, and would have rotted above ground had not
some friends of theirs scattered dirt over them. Not that the
Fifty-Ninth was unfeeling or inhuman, but it was not their business to
kill, and then bury traitors. Close by was a small open field, in which
were three hundred muskets, apparently thrown down by some regiment
that had been camped there.