The Eighty-sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry : a narrative of its services in the Civil War of 1861-1865

Front matter

GEORGE FREDERICK DICK.

THE

Eighty-Sixth Regiment,

Chapter I. Bursting Of The Storm Cloud

^he Secession of the Southern States — Firing on Sumter — President Lincoln's Proclamation — Governor Morton's Call for Six Regiments— The President's Call for Three Years' Men— The Response of Indiana. .. ... 3

Chapter II. The- Organization

?he Eighty-sixth Recruited in Response to the Call for 300,000 More — The Material Furnished by the Eighth Congressional District — Rendezvoused at Camp Tippecanoe — Line, Field and Staff Officers .... 15

Chapter III. The Initiation

'amp Tippecanoe — Its Fine Location — Hard Beds — Trials for Hoosier Stomachs — Edible Blankets — Electing Officers — Physical Examinations— First Efforts at Drill — Raiding the Sutler . . 21

Chapter IV Camp Carrington

rom LaFayette to Indianapolis — Camp Carrington — The Eighty-sixth Mustered In — The Blue Uniform Donned — Camp Equipage Drawn — The First "Hard Tack'- — Furnished With Arms and Equipments — An Irishman on Guard — One Month's Pay — Orders to March .. 30

Chapter V "grumble Hill."

rom Indianapolis to Cincinnati — Breakfast at Fifth Street Market — Across the River — Covington — Ludlow — Camp Mitchell — Newport— The First Bivouac— Camp Wallace — "Grumble Hill" — Company H on Picket — Wallowing in the Ditches. 37

IV THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,

Chapter VI. Down The Ohio

The "Forest Rose"- and the "Dunleith" — The Beautiful Scenery — How the Boys Whiled Away the Time — Land at Jeffersonville — Camp Gilbert — Cross the River to Louisville — A Tedious Night March — Arrival of Buell's Army — The Clamor Against Buell — The Eighty-sixth's Assignment — General Nelson Killed 45

Chapter VII. In Pursuit Of Bragg

A Real March — Its Trials and Its Lessons— Bardstown — The Dusty Limestone Pikes of Kentucky — River Water — Parched Corn — Raw Goose — Springfield — On to Perryville — The Detour for Water — A Forced Night March 53

Chapter VIII. Perryville

The Battle— The Field and the Dead— "The Gilded Puddle Which Beasts Would Cough At" — The Onward March — Bivouac in Fodder Hou.-es- On the Skirmish Line All Day — A Reconnoissance — Danville— Stanford — Thundering at the Rebel Rear — Crab Orchard — Mt. Vernon — A Broken Country — "Hungry Hollow. " 62

Chapter IX. The Wild Cat Hills

A Rough Country — A Toe Shot Off — Buell Denounced — Turned Back — Buell Removed — Rosecrans Assigned to the Command — Somerset — A Deep Snowfall — Apple Jack — Columbia — Overcoats and Dress Coats Drawn — Stolen Cheese— Glasgow 72

Chapter X. Silver Springs And Rural Hill

A Forty Days' March Reviewed — Death of William Rose and Archibald Coats — A March to Rural Hill — Skirmish With John Morgan's Men — In Camp Near Nashville — Detail of Twenty Men for the Pioneer Corps — Drill and Picket Duty 83

CHAPTER XL

THE BATTLE OF STONE'S RIVER.

The Army of the Cumberland — Its Organization — The Eighty-sixth's Assignment — Moving Out From Nashville — Its Position — Plan of the Battle — Colonel Hamilton Relieved — The Movement on the Loft Suspended — The Regiment Ordered to the Right — In the Vortex of Death — List of the Regiment's Killed and Mortally Wounded — The Second Day's Fight — Bragg Lost and Rosecrans Won 93

INDIANA VOLUNTEERS. V

Chapter XII. Within Confederate Lines

A Trip Through Dixie — From Murfreesboro to Chattanooga — To Atlanta and Montgomery — From There to Richmond — In Libby Prison — How the Days Were Spent — Released on Parole and Finally Exchanged 117

Chapter XIII. Stone's River To Chickamauga

Six Months at Murfreesboro — Camp Life — How the Time Was Employed— The Long Stay An Absolute Necessity — The Eighty-sixth Receives Really Its First Military Instruction — Punishment of a Deserter — A Piece of Somber Romance — Other Incidents—March to McMinnville 122

Chapter XIV. The Chickamauga Campaign

General Rosecrans Moves from Murfreesboro — Bragg is Driven from Tullahoma Over the Mountains and Out of Tennessee — A. Most Skillful and Almost Bloodless Movement— The Eighty-sixth Leaves McMinnville — With the Brigade It Makes a Forced March — Down the Sequatchie Valley — Crosses the Tennessee — Rejoins the Division Near Ringgold — A -Series of Confederate Blunders — A Narrow Escape for the Union Army — Playing for Position 146

Chapter XV. The Battle Of Chickamauga

The Opening Ball — The Eighty-sixth in at the Beginning — Dick's Brigade in Support of Wilder — Important Points on the Field Described — Position of Rosecrans' Troops — Waiting in Suspense — The Orders Arrive — The Regiment Goes In — A Vivid Portrayal of the First Day's Contest — The Lines Reformed for the Second Day — The Bloody Contest Rages With Unabated Fury — The Various Movements of the Regiment, Brigade and Division — The Charges at the Kelly and Poe Fields — The Break in the Lines — Longstreet in the Charge — On Snodgrass Hill and Harker Hill — Steedman's Troops Come Up — Confederates Gain Possession of the LaFayette Road on the Left — Final Repulse of Longstreet at Snodgrass Hill — Withdrawal of Union Troops — Strength of the Armies and Losses at Chickamauga — Estimates of the Battle by Confederate Officers — Indiana at Chickamauga. 170

Chapter XVI. Beleaguered In Chattanooga

The Objective Point of the Campaign Held — Arrival of the Eighty-sixth from Chickamauga— Entered Upon Its Duties to Defend the Town — The Scarcity of Supplies — The Sufferings Endured by the Men — Starvation Staring Them in the Face — Provisions Brought Over the Mountains from Bridgeport — Foraging — Con-

VI THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,

solidation of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Corps — The Fourth Corps Formed — General Rosecrans Relieved — General Thomas Assumes Command — Arrival of General Grant — The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps — Battle of Wauhatchie — The Army of the Tennessee Arrives — Preparations for the Approaching- Battle — Did General Rosecrans Contemplate at Any Time the Evacuation of Chattanooga? 210

Chapter XVII. The Battle Of Chattanooga

A Great Battle With a Picturesque Setting — An Unlooked for Crisis Precipitates It — Wood Makes aReeonnoissance — Ground Gained, Held, and Fortified — Hooker's Battle on Lookout Mountain — Sherman at the North End of Missionary Ridge — Thomas Ordered to Take First Line of Enemy's Works at Foot of Ridge and Make a Diversion in Favor of Sherman — The Order Promptly Obeyed — The Lines Captured in Hurricane Style — The Unordered Assault on Missionary Ridge — A Private's Victory — A Battle Fought More Successfully Than Planned, But Not as Planned — A Victory that Astounded Grant in the Manner of Its Coming as Much as It Did Bragg in Its Results — General Cist's Account — Fullerton's Version — Bragg and Bate's Statements — Captain Reilly's Account of the Assault — Taylor's Brilliant Description of the Battle 230

Chapter XVIII. On To Knoxville

After the Battle the Rescue — Through Mud and Through Stream — Over Hill and Down Dale — The Fourth Corps Marched to Succor the Army of the Ohio and the Gallant Burnside — An Attenuated Diet — Parched Corn and Government Bacon — An Exciting Though Amusing Incident — The Arrival at Knoxville — A ''Sick Flour " Experience 283

Chapter XIX. Knoxville And Beyond

Blain's Cross Roads — House Mountain — Lye Hominy — Parched Corn — A Bleak December — Gaunt Hunger, Rags and Icy Winter Go Hand and Hand — Christmas Thoughts — That Cold New Years — A Mail From Home — Strawberry Plains — To Dandridge and Back— A Second Valley Forge 297

Chapter XX. East Tennessee

The Bivouac in the Snow— Back to Maryville— A Laughable Incident—General Willich in Temporary Command of the Division — Again on the Move— Smoky Hollow — At Knoxville— On to Morristown — Back to New Market— Again at Morristown — Strawberry Plains— Off to Rutledge — The Clinch Mountains— A Scouting Expedition — Bound for Chattanooga — The Campaign Ended — At McDonald's Station 313

INDIANA VOLUNTEERS. vii

Chapter XXI. Sherman's Campaign In Georgia

General Howard in Command of the Fourth Corps — The Eleventh and Twelfth Corps Consolidated and Designated the Twentieth — Sherman's Preparation for the Atlanta Campaign — The Importance of the Grand Movement — Tunnel Hill — Rocky Face Ridge — Dalton— The Battle of Resaca 329

Chapter XXII. Resaca To Pickett's Mills

Across the Oostanaula — Calhoun — Adairsville — Oothcaloga Valley — Kingston — Cassville — A Three Days' Rest — Across the Etowah — Where the Different Commands Crossed — A Wild Wilderness — Burnt Hick ry — New Hope Church — The Battle of Pickett's Mills — The Eighty-sixth's Part in this Engagement — Colonel Dick Wounded — The Regiment's Loss 349

Chapter XXIII. Pickett's Mills To Kenesaw

The Eighty-sixth on the Skirmish Line — Constant Fighting — Rainy and Hot Weather— A Perfect Hell Hole— Pine Mountain— Lost Mountain— Kenesaw Mountain— General Polk Killed on Pine Mountain— Captain L. V. Ream Wounded — Luke Cronkhite Fatally Wounded— The Assault on June 27 —A Frightful Loss of Life— Kenesaw Mountain Abandoned by the Enemy — A Forward Movement 369

Chapter XXIV. Kenesaw To Peach Tree Creek

The Fourth of July — How it Was Celebrated — Smyrna Camp Ground — Mclvor's Station— McRae's Hill — Chattahoochee River — Pace's Ferry — Powers' Ferry — Across the Chattahoochee— Down the River— Over to Buck Head— The Battle of Peach Tree Creek 400

Chapter XXV. Peach Tree Creek To Lovejoy's Station

Closing in On Atlanta — Clear Creek— A Hot Time— The Eighty-sixth in Front of the Gate City — The Battle of the 22d of July — Skirmishing and Making Demonstrations — The Battle of Ezra Church — The Great Move Around Atlanta — Destroying Railroads— Hood's Flight From Atlanta— His Stores Destroyed and Magazines Blown I'p— The Battle of Jonesboro — The Battle of Lovejoy's Station— Sherman Withdraws to Atlanta— The Losses of the Campaign— Congratulations Erom President Lincoln. .. . 420

Chapter XXVI. (iest In Camp--afthr Hood

In Camp Near Atlanta— Three Weeks of Daily Routine Duties — A Bold Movement by Hood— Sherman's Army In Pursuit— The Eighty-sixth Again on March — Smyrna Camp Ground — Pine Mountain — The Signals Between Sherman and Corse — The Fight at Allatoona Pass— Kenesaw Mounlain— Cartersville and Kingston—Calhoun — Rome— Resaca- Snake Creek Gap — Chattooga

Vlll THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT,

Valley — Fresh Pork and Sweet Potatoes— Summerville— Gaylesville, Alabama— The Fourth Corps Bids a Silent Farewell to General Sherman— Sherman's Letter to the Eighty-sixth 445

Chapter XXVII. The Tables Turned

Hood Marching North — A Race for the Lead — Wood's Division Gets There First — Elk River and " The Irishman's Pontoons"— Hood After Schofield and Thomas— Pulaski— Columbia— Duck River —Spring Hill, or Running the Gauntlet— The Battle of Franklin — Fort Granger — Thomas' Army Organization and Strength 464

Chapter XXVIII. The Battle Of Nashville

Two Days' Hard Fighting— The Plan of the Battle— Montgomery Hill Captured by the Fourth Corps —The Second Days' Battle — Overton's Hill Assaulted— "The Colored Troops Fought Nobly" — The Gallant Second Brigade Repulsed with Heavy Loss— Colonel Post Wounded— The Third Brigade Assaults and Captures Overton's Hill — Union Success — Hood Makes a Hasty Flight — Pursuit of the Enemy — A Frightful March — In Camp at Huntsville — General Wood's Congratulatory Order 486

Chapter XXIX. The Closing Year. -1865

In Winter Quarters at Huntsville, Alabama— A Three Days' Scout — Living on the Fat of the Land — Trip to Nashville and Return — Up the Tennessee River — To East Tennessee by Rail — The Last Days of the Rebellion— Richmond Evacuated— Lee Surrenders — Great Joy at the Supposed Approach of The White Winged Angel of Peace— Treason Dies Hard — In the Death Struggle Its Infernal Spirit Finds a Willing Tool to Do a Hellish Deed — President Lincoln Assassinated — A Gloomy, Joyless Day — The Heart of America Wounded— Return to Nashville— Johnston Surrenders— The Dawn of Peace— Grand Review — "Mustered Out" — Return to Hoosierdom — Disbanded — The Boys Return to Their Homes 518

Chapter XXX. The Two Colonels

George Frederick Dick— A Sketch of His Early Life— Captain of a Boy's Military Company in Cincinnati — His Fire Company — In Business— Answers the First Call of the President — A Captain in the Twentieth Indiana — His Services in That Regiment — Made Lieutenant Colonel in the Eighty-sixth — His Career with That Regiment to the Close of the War — Orville S. Hamilton — A Brave Man, but Wanting in Military Genius— A Bit of Secret History Never Before Told or Written— A Tribute to His Memory 545

Roster of Officers 572

Roster of Enlisted Men 577

Eighty-sixth's Roll of Honor 595

Appendix 600

INTRODUCTORY

In the presentation of the history of the Eighty-Sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, the authors seek not their own glorification. The work of writing the part taken by this regiment is undertaken at the request of the members of the regiment who survived the hardships and dangers of the years from 1862-1865 in active campaign life. The desire of these comrades is to preserve for their children, the history of the service they rendered to the Nation in the days of her peril, and that the name and deeds of their regiment may not be entirely forgotten.

It is not intended to write a history of the entire war of the Rebellion, but in narrating the manner by which this regiment was organized, and then formed a part of the great Union Army, or Federal Army as it was called by the people of the South, and then in chronicling the deeds of the men of the Eighty-Sixth, it will be necessary to write to some extent of the opening year of the war, and of the events of the years that followed. We must write somewhat of the organization of the entire Army of the Union, and briefly recount the necessity for the formation of the Eighty-Sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers.

After writing of the formation and muster-in of the regiment, it will be necessary to relate something of the general history of the campaigns in which it participated, and the battles in which it bore an important and conspicuous part. The surviving members of this regiment feel a just and honorable pride in the military record of this special body of troops in which they performed their service, and they have no less pride in the glorious achievements of every regiment and battery that was mustered into the United States service, and entering the field bore its part in the suppression of the rebellion and the preservation of the American Republic. It is felt that each and all, officers and enlisted men, have "a vested right" in the great glory and renown that so justly belongs to all.

Notwithstanding the fact that the wonderful achievements of the American citizen soldiery merits the highest encomiums from all and for all, yet we as Indiana men will certainly be pardoned if we should in this work, claim for the Indiana soldier, and for those particularly who were active participants in the campaigns and battles of the war through which we passed, as much valor, and as many thoroughly soldierly qualities, included in the tei'ms bravery, courage, daring and prowess, on the battle-field, as can be shown by any other State that took part in that deadly struggle from 1^(51—1-^(3." inclusive.

On every battle-field during the entire war for the preservation of the Union, Indiana regiments and Indiana batteries were found, and the banners borne by her sons were ever in the thickest and hottest of the fray

The pages which follow will be simply a recital of the part which the Eighty-Sixth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, performed in the great drama on the theater of the most bloody war of modern times. It will not be claimed that this regiment did more than any other similar body of men in the field, but the aim is to give a plain, unvarnished story of the marches, the bivouacs, the skirmishes, the battles of this organization, and recount its hardships, its exposures, its privations and its severe trials, — this and nothing more.

James A. Barnes, James R. Carnahan, Thomas H. B. McCain.

HISTORY OF THE EIGHTY-SIXTH REGIMENT.

Chapter I. Bursting Of The Storm Cloud

The Secession of the Southern States— Firing on Sumter— President Lincoln's Proclamation— Governor Morton's Call for Six Regiments— The President's Call for Three Years' Men— The Response of Indiana.

During the winter of 1860-'61 seven of the Southern States undertook to secede from the Union, and destroy the National Government. Soon other States in the South joined in the movement and attempted to set up an independent government. The arms and treasure of the United States were taken possession of, and finally Fort Sumter, near Charleston, South Carolina, was fired upon, and the garrison, after a stubborn tight, was compelled to surrender. This firing upon the United States Hag and upon United States soil was the open declaration of war against and upon the Government, and this was to be met. Abraham Lincoln, the President, at once issued his proclamation for volunteers, as follows:

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, The laws of the ITnited States have been for some time past, and now are, opposed, anil the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Cieor^ia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshal by law:

Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity and the existence of our National Union and the prosperity of popular government, and to redress wrongs already long endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will lie observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens, in any part of the country

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid, to disperse, and to retire peaceably to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Believing that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion. 1 do hereby, in virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to lie at their respective chambers, at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

[l. s.] Abraham Lincoln.

Signed:

By the President.

William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

Following- immediately upon the cull of President Lincoln for 75,000 troops for the thive months' service, Governor Morton issued a proclamation under date of April 10, I SOI, as follows:

Wherkar, An armed rebellion has been organized in certain States of this Union, having for its purpose the overthrow of the government of the United States;

And Whereas, The authors and movers in this rebellion have seized, by violence, various forts and arsenals belonging to the United States, and otherwfse plundered the Government of large amounts of money and valuable property;

And Whereas, Fort Sumter, a fortress belonging to the United States, the exclusive possession and jurisdiction over which was vested in the General Government by the Constitution of the United States, has been besieged by a large army and assaulted by a destructive cannonade and reduced to submission, and the National flag hauled down and dishonored;

And Whereas, The President of the United States, in the exercise of the power vested in him by the Federal Constitution, has called upon the several States remaining true to their allegience, to aid him in the enforcement of the laws, the recovery of the National property, and the maintenance of the rightful authority of the United States:

Now, therefore, I, Oliver P. Morton, Governor of the State of Indiana, call upon the loyal and patriotic men of this State, to the number of six regiments, to organize themselves into military companies, and forthwith to report the same to the Adjutant General, in order that they may be speedily mustered into the service of the United States. The details of the organization are set forth in the instructions of the Adjutant General, herewith published.

Oliver P Morton, Governor.

Lewis Wallace, Adjutant General.

Indianapolis, April Hi, 1861.

These two proclamations were each the first by the Chief Executive of the United States, and the Chief Executive of the State of Indiana, announcing or declaring war, the cause thereof, and calling for troops. These first calls by President Lincoln and Governor Morton in April, 18(il, had scarcely been flashed over the wires until the State had more than filled her quota, and her regiments were hurrying from peaceful homes into fields that were to be made far more glorious by their deeds of valor, than any battle-field of the old world where the wars had been waged for conquest of hate, at the command of a despot, and by soldiers of fortune or force. From North to South, from East to West within her borders the sons of Indiana responded to the call. They came from the stores and counting rooms, from the colleges and country school houses, from village, town 'and city, from shop and farm, leaving all and every prospect of future comfort for the hardships, danger and death that awaited them in their new lives as soldiers. There was then no thought of honor and glory, no towering ambition to be gratified, no promise or hope, of great pecuniary reward, — there was only the one great moving and impelling cause, Patriotism, as pure, as earnest, as high and as noble as ever influenced men to act. The life of the Nation was threatened, the Republic was in peril; it must be saved. This thought, and this alone brought men from their peaceful homes, and into the tented field. Of all of the States of the Union, Indiana had had for a score of years prior to the breaking out of the civil war, less of the military spirit than any other State of the Republic.

It was wholly devoted to peaceful pursuits. Its mercantile, mechanical and agricultural affairs engrossed almost the entire attention of her people. There was in April, 1861, not to exceed a half dozen of what might be termed even fairly respectable military companies in the State; there was not even a professed battalion or regimental organization anywhere within our borders. Outside of a very few men who had seen some little military service in the Mexican war, which had closed some thirteen years prior to the rebellion, it is safe to say that we had not three hundred men in the entire State that had ever stood in military ranks, or had ever had a single drill in the manual of arms, and certain it was that there were not ten men, who even in the so-called military bodies prior to 1861, who had ever had a commission or rank, higher than that of Captain, and none who had in any rank commanded a battalion or a regiment. The lawyer, the preacher, the business man, the mechanic and the farmer entered the new life, as soldiers, with all the zeal and mental application the necessities of the day and the occasion demanded. With the same haste with which the companies were recruited and mustered into the service, the companies were assigned to regiments. These were as speedily equipped, and without any delay for preparatory drill were put on board the cars, not even waiting for passenger coaches, but loaded into box cars and cattle cars and were sent to the front to engage in active campaign life. There was no opportunity to test the qualifications of the men who were commissioned as field officers and placed at the head of the various regiments, and there was no pretense that the company officers were in any respect informed as to their duties, but they were commissioned and told that they ' ' had it all to learn. ' ' Fortunately the men who were commissioned as field officers of each of the six regiments organized under the first call, proved by their gallantry and faithful service that they had been well chosen. In the calls of 1862, we had some of the officers of the first regiments of 1861 transferred to the new regiments and they brought with them such experience as they had gained during a year's service. Looking back over the period of the war, and the years that "tried men's souls, " the years when under military discipline, and the storms of battle, in which youths speedily developed into strong and thoughtful men under the responsibilities that were laid upon them, and when we compare the soldiers of other States with those from Indiana, our State and our officers and soldiers, lose nothing by that comparison. In relation to the efficiency of Indiana officers in the Army, Governor Morton late in the war, (1865), in his message to the Legislature said :

" The duty of appointing officers to command our regiments is full of responsibility and embarrassment. I have commissioned many whom I did not know, and for whose fitness I was compelled to rely entirely upon the opinion of others. But it affords me gratification to state that the Indiana officers, as a body, have been found equal to those of any other State ; that they have, upon every battle-field, sustained the great cause, and shed lustre upon the flag under which they fought. Many have been appointed to high commands, in which they have acquitted themselves with the greatest honor and ability, and very many have nobly laid down their lives in battle for their country."

At the breaking out of the war, the United States was unable to furnish the uniforms and equipments necessary for an army of 75,000 soldiers so suddenly called into active service. There must needs be arms and ammunition of all kinds and for all branches of the service. These were the first essentials, and to the manufacture of these the Government was compelled to turn all its force and power to the neglect of uniforms and the distinctive badges that indicated the soldier and not the citizen. Under the circumstances, therefore, it became necessary for the State to provide uniforms for the troops organized within her borders. Some of the regiments were uniformed before they left the State, others went into the field without their uniforms, and the uniforms were made and sent to them. There were, however, no individual measures taken for uniforms — the soldier took what was handed him and ''swapped around " until he got something which was called "a fit" that he could wear. The writer remembers well the great variety of uniforms that were worn by the first year's troops, each State having a uniform in many respects differing from those worn by the troops from other States.

Each branch of business pertaining to the army or military life was crowded to the utmost. Speaking of the activity that prevailed in every military department of the State, General Terrell says: "Indeed every department was taxed to the utmost; the duties were novel, and the officers assigned to discharge them inexperienced and unskilled; yet better supplies were not furnished at any subsequent period durthe war, or at so cheap a rate.*'

The spirit of patriotism then pervaded all classes. It was in the man who had goods to sell, and the man who manufactured them, as well as in the men who volunteered to do military service. The leading, moving and guiding spirit in all matters pertaining to the war, in so far as the State of Indiana was concerned, was the then Governor, Oliver P Morton. It was his mind and genius that directed in the organization of the Indiana troops for the first call. It was he who influenced and directed the legislation that was necessary to place Indiana abreast of the other loyal States in those matters that were then vital to the best interests of the Nation. What is here said of Governor Morton at the breaking out of the war, is equally true of him during all the years of war through which the Nation passed until peace was again declared and our boys came marching home.

No work for him was too arduous, no labor too °reat for him to undertake in the cause of the Union, or for the men who had left their homes as members of any body of Indiana soldiers. Whether at home discharging the duties as Governor, or absent looking after the financial interests of the State — the Indiana soldier and his welfare were ever uppermost in his mind. His activity in all matters pertaining to the war was most fully illustrated in his recommendations to the legislature which he had convened in special session. The legislature met in extra session on the 24th of April, 1861, and the Governor in his message, after reviewing the situation in which the General Government was then placed, and after recounting what Indiana had already done and was trying to do, said:

"In view of all the facts, it becomes the imperative duty of Indiana to make suitable preparations for the contest, by providing ample supplies of men and money to insure the protection of the State and General Government in the prosecution of the war to a speedy and successful termination. I therefore recommend that one million of dollars be aPPr°priated for the purchase of arms and munitions of war, and for the organization of such portion of the militia as may be deemed necessary for the emergency; that a militia system be devised and enacted, looking chiefly to volunteers, which shall insure the greatest protection to the State, and unity and efficiency of the force to be employed.''