The history of the Thirty-ninth regiment Illinois volunteer veteran infantry, (Yates phalanx.) in the war of the rebellion

Dedication

TO THE CHILDREN.

THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS

OF THE

Chapter I. Pages

How and When Organized — Difficulties Encountered in getting Accepted — Partial Disbandment — Reorganizing and Acceptance — Camp Mather — Contest for the State Agricultural Flag — Election of Field Officers — Ordered to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Mo. — Presentation of a Flag by Miss Arion — Muster Into the United States Service — March to the Depot — Lunch at the Briggs House — Address of the Hon. George C. Bates — Response by Lieutenant- Colonel Osborn and others 1 — 10

Chapter II

Oflf for St. Louis — Transferred to a Steamboat at Alton — Man Overboard — Arrive at St. Louis — Benton Barracks — Scene in Barracks — Receive Arms, but Not Satisfactory — Sickness — To Join Ward H. Lamon's Brigade at Williamsport, Md. — Leave St. Louis — Incidents of the Journey — Arrival at Hagerstown, Md. — March to Williamsport 11 — 19

Chapter III

Making Encampment — Regimental Hospital — Measles — Death of Lieutenant Richardson — His Burial — How the Surgeons were Treated — Reminiscence of Washington — Refugees — The Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers — A False Alarm — Porte Crayon — Colonel Light's Dismissal — Meeting of the Company Officers — Colonel Osborn Promoted to the Vacancy — Thanksgiving — How Observed 20— 26

Chapter IV

Arms for the Regiment — Orders Received to Guard the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad — Depart for Hancock, Md. — Cross the Potomac River to Alpine Station, Va. — Posting the Companies — Surmises

ix

CONTEXTS.

PAGES.

and Expectancy — Stag Dances — The Colonel and Terpsichore — Swan Family — Fort Osborn — Scouting — Applejack — Enemy Ap-. proaching — The Detached Companies — How Quartered — Berkeley Springs — The Strother Family — Expedition to Bloomer's Gap — A Commotion in Camp — The Chaplain and Lieutenant Belcher — Dr. Clark Goes to Bath — Colonel Osborn's Otficial Report of Operations at Bath and Other Places — General Imboden's Account of Jackson's Expedition 27 — 37

CHAPTEE Y.

The Rebel Force and its Object — Bath the Key to the Position — Captain Linton's Reconnoissance — The Enemy Advance — Reinforcements — Retreat from Bath — The Skirmish at Big Capon — • A Rebel's Account of It — Account by Lieutenant Savage — Affairs at Alpine — The Assistant Surgeon's Advance and Retreat — The Passage of the River — Muhlenberg's Good Service — A Conflagration — A Flag of Truce and How Received — Waiting for the Bombardment — A Reconnoissance and What was Discovered — Some Reflections — The Hospital — Orders to Move 38 — 53

CHAPTER YI.

March to Cumberland — How Quartered — New Clothing — Ordered to New Creek, Va. — Living Aboard the Cars — The Ohio Regiments — Sickness — Expedition to Romney, Va. — Choice of Positions — Move to Patterson's Creek — Washington's Birthday — How Celebrated — Resolutions — Quinine and Whisky — General Lander's Order — His Death — Reconstructing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad — Visit Bath — Sad Reports — Foraging Expedition — A Practical Joke — Leave the' Cars — March to Martinsburg — Harvey's Heroism — Meet General Shields — March to Winchester — Reconnoissance in Force — Major Munn's Horse Wanted — Incidents. 5-t — 71

CHAPTER YII. •

Meet Doctor Owens — David Strother — Reach our Camp — Skirmish with Ashby's Cavalry — General Shields Wounded — Battle of Winchester — Position of the Regiment — Result of the Battle — Following the Army of Jackson — Skirmish with the Rear-guard — Bivouac at Cedar Creek — Pursuit Resumed — Woodstock — Edinburg — Permission to Forage — Early Start in the Morning — Mount Jackson — Charging a Battery — General Shields' Recovery — On the

CONTENTS. xi

PAGES.

March Again — Fording the Shenandoah — Reach New Market — Cross the Massanutton Mountain — White House and Columbia Bridges — Luray — Skirmish at Columbia Bridge, and Hold it — Surprising a Rebel — Seeking to Arrest Colonel Boswell — Visit from Plantation Darkeys — Recounoissance — March to Falmouth —Eastern Soldiers — Review by President Lincoln — Ordered Back — Departure of Shields — Move to Alexandria — Sent to Harrison's Landing 72— 88

CHAPTEE VIII.

Assigned to Keyes' Corps — Terribly Hot — Sickness — Sanitary Commission — Outpost Duty — Resignations — Company H Arrives — Terrific Cannonading — Celestial Picket — The Grand Retreat — Much Suffering — Campaign Lyric — Proceed to Suffolk — Some History — Hospital — Assistant Surgeons Arrive — The Sabbath — Expeditions to the Dismal Swamp and Blackwater — Aunt Sally — The News — Some Reflections — Resignation of Major Munn — New Year's — How Celebrated — Off for the Chowan River — Incidents of the March — George Riddle and the Pig — Take Transports for Newbern, N. C. — Arrival — Wreck of the Ambulance- — Palatial Quarters — -Receive Flag from Governor Yates — Join Foster's Expedition to South Carolina — Sent to Morehead City — Selecting Transports— All Aboard 89—104

' CHAPTEE IX.

Pass Fort McAllister — Storm at Sea — Paying Toll to Neptune — Cleaning up — Fishing — Taking Account of Stock — Generals Foster and Hunter Do Not Agree — Land on St. Helena Island — Make Camp — The Ballad of Paris Island — Dress and Discipline — Hilton Head— "Ain't You Going to Kiss Me, Hass, Before You Go?"' — Beaufort — Mrs. General Lander — The Negroes — Fishing — Ordered to Folly Island — View the Enemy — Take Possession of Folly Island — Feeling Our Way up to the Front — Descrijitive — The Bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Ironclads — Making Camp — General Vogdes — Lankinaw and the General — Throwing up Intrenchmeuts — Relieve the One Hundredth New York Volunteers — The Rebels Celebrate — Fooling with a Loaded Shell — First Maryland Cavalry — Paymasters Arrive — The Sutler — Some of His Experiences — Visit the "Ironsides" — News from Rebel Sources — Trading with the Enemy — The Blockade Runner " Ruby " — An Expedition to it — Results — Dr. Woodward Makes the Trip and Vogdes Disciplines Him 105 — 129 xii CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE X.

PAGES.

Fowler of Company K Hurt — Card Playing — An Accident — Board of Administration for the Sutlers — General Gilmore Succeeds Hunter — Gilmore and Seymour Arrive — Troops Arriving — Plan of Operations — Battery Completed — Guns Mounted — The Boys Tired Out — Field Hospital Organized — The Capture of Part of Morris Island — How it was Done — Might Have Had it All — The Wounded— The First Assault on Fort Wagner — How Conducted — Rebel Account of It — After the Repulse — Morris Island — Heavy Details for Work — More Batteries Erected — The Fleet Bombard Fort Wagner — The Second Assault — The Colored Regiment — Troops Sacrificed — Blundering — Tale of a Participator — The Killed and Wounded — Troops Sent Away — Gilmore Rifles — Nuisances — Colonel Howell Injured — Reflections — The Parallels — Capture of Sharpshooters — Fort Sumter in Ruins — The " Swamp Angel " — Prepare for Another Assault — Wagner Abandoned — Call for Volunteers to Reconnoiter — Dispatches to General Gilmore — Death of Captain Woodruff — Resolutions — General Gilmore's Order of Congratulation 130 — 154

CHAPTEE XL

Ordered Back to Folly Island — Sent to Hilton Head — Vaccination- — Re-enlist as Veterans — Had to Pass an Examination — The Thirty- Ninth Popular and Given an Escort and an Ovation — Letter to Governor Yates from Generals Seymour and Gilmore — Embark for New York — Grounded on Frying Pan Shoals — Final Release — The Captain's Fault — The Vessel on Fire — ^Big Storm ofif Hatteras — Horse Loose — Another Calamity — Men Injured — Reach New York — Park Barracks — Take the Cars for Chicago — Arrival — Respects to the Tribune — Supper at Bryan Hall — Lady Managers of the Soldiers' Rest — Camji Fry — Furloughs — Dr. Woodward as Hamlet at McVicker's Theatre 155—165

CHAPTEE XII.

Assemble at Bryan Hall — Speeches of Governor Yates and Others — Ordered to the Front — Poem — Leave Chicago — Trouble at Pittsburg — How it all Ended — Arrive at AVashington — Cross the Potomac^ — Arlington Heights — Camji Grant — First Connecticut Heavy Artillery — Major Cook — Colonel Osborn Sick — Fort Barnard — Start a Masonic Lodge — Move to Gloucester Point — Vast Array and Great Preparations — Embark on Steamer — Halt at Fort Monroe for Orders — Proceed Up the James River — Debark at Bermuda Hundred 166—176

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTEE XIII.

PAGES.

In the Army of the James — Move Towards Drury's Bluff — Intrenching — Skirmish at Chester Heights — Driving the Eebels Back on , Fort Darling — Colonel Osborn Wounded — Digging Rifie-Pits — Jenkins Wounded — The Surgeons in a Fix — A Gentlemanly Aid-de-Camp — Butler Anticipated — Plimpton's Account of the Battle of Drury's Bluff — Casualties — Major Linton Points Out a Few Errors — Loss to Butler's Army — A Remarkable Battle — Adjutant Walker — Captain Wightman — Kendall Says He's Dead — Other Incidents — The Honor of the State of Illinois Must be Maintained — Experiences of Lace and Crozier — Get Back to the Old Camp — The Wounded 177—190

CHAPTEE Xiy.

Butler's Force— Grant Calls for the Eighteenth and Part of the Tenth Corps— Butler " Bottled Up "—All Quiet— Recapture of Rifle-Pits, May 20th, or Battle of Wier Bottom Church— Short but Brilliant — Colonel Howell's Official Report of it — Lieutenant-Colonel Mann Wounded — Loss to the Regiment and Brigade — Howell Shows How to Draw the Enemy's Fire — Dog Tents — The Camji — Battery Number Six — Lieutenant Burrill and Amos Reese Wounded in Camp — Jacob Franks Drowned — Comparative Quiet — The Second of June — The Rebs Get a Roasting — Lieutenant Fellows Killed— Lieutenant Sweetser Wounded — A Rebel Colonel in Our Hands —General Alfred H. Terry 191—202

CHAPTEE XV.

Some Leisure — Captain Snowden Wounded — Hot Weather — Sixteenth of June — Grant's Army Crosses the James — The Thirty-Ninth Encounter Pickett's Division — Captain Rudd Wounded — The 17th of June — Take a Lot of Prisoners — General Gilmore Relieved — Return to Old Camp — President Lincoln Reviews the Army of the James — Our Wounded at Fort Monroe — How Treated — Hospital Chaplains — Chaplain McReading — The 13th of August — Plimpton's Account of the Battle of Deep Run — Williams, Lemon and Frane Killed — Baker and Warner Lose their Legs — The Casualties —Poem 203—215 xiv CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XVI.

PAGES.

General Birney's Order — Pretty Well Thinned Out — Always Ready — In Front of Petersburg — Brigade Hospital — The Petersburg Express — Rebel Lines — Grant's Headquarters — Whitworth Bolts — Execution of a Soldier — Colonel Howell's Death — Eulogy and Elegy — Position of the Army of the James — Election Commissioners — Feeling of the Soldiers — Light Marching Orders — Cross the James River — Battle of Darbytown Cross-Roads — Assault of the Fort — Plimpton's Account of It; Sergeant Slagle's — Yates' Death — Death of Steele — Bad Place for Surgeons — The Wounded — Lieutenant Wilder Killed — An Incident — Miss Clara Barton — A Great " Skedaddle " — General Birney's Death — Grand Review by Lincoln and Grant — Some Medical Matters — Winter Quarters — Some of Butler's Orders 216—237

CHAPTER XVII.

Organizing the Twenty-Fourth Army Corps — The Twenty-Fifth and Part of the Twenty-Fourth Corps go to Fort Fisher — The Field Hospital at Chapin's Farm — Medical Examining Board — Malingerers, and How Treated — Christmas Eve — Music by the Band — Egg-Nog, Etc.^Dutch Gap Canal — Victory Everywhere — Visitors — Ed Conley's Report of a Serenade on the Hunchback, and How it Terminated — Surgery on a Horse — Deserters — Shooting Deserters — Sad and Shocking Scene 238 — 248

CHAPTER XVIII.

Another Review by General Grant and Ladies — General Grant at the Hospital — How he Looked— Still Another Review — Feeling Like "Green Bay Trees" — Orders to Prepare to Move — A Clearing Out — General Sheridan Arrives — March All Night — Major Plimpton's Description of Movements and Battles from March 27th to April 9th — General Osborn's Official Report — Something About the Doctors — Statistics — Ride into Petersburg — Negroes and Massa Linkum — Forward to Appomattox — The Surrender of General Lee and His Army of Northern Virginia — The War Practically Ended — Visit to the Rebel Camp — General Osborn Gets a Horse — Relic-Hunters — General Lee Departs — His Last Order 249 — 267

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTEE XIX.

PAGES.

On to Richmond!— News of the Assassination of President Lincoln — Burdened with Woe — Lincoln's Favorite Poem— Farmville — Entertain Ladies— Enter Richmond— City of Richmond— The King is Dead— Where Does the Credit Belong— Make Encampment- Duties— Army of the Potomac and Sherman's Army Pass through Richmond — General Terry Again — Corps Hospital — General Grant's Order— Reporter Merriam— Ladies of Richmond— Doctor jViayo— George Fitzhugh— Richmond Theatre— Grand Spreads and "Blow Outs "—The Thirty-Ninth Ordered to City Point— Thence to Norfolk— Twenty-Fourth Corps Disbanded— Hospital Closed- Post Hospital at Norfolk—" Ferry Point in a Minit"— District of Southeastern Virginia— Niggers Want the Earth— Terry's Order —Muster Out of Service— School is Out— Go Home— Reach Chicago—Springfield—Final Payments— Exercises in the Chapel- Salute the Old Banners for the Last Time— Valedictory 268—286

CHAPTEE XX.

REMINISCENCES AND INCIDENTS.

How Lieutenant Brucker Opened the Battle of Winchester, Va.— Disobedience of Orders Saves Many Lives— Some Tales by Commissary Sergeant Frisbie: A New Dish: Frisbie's "Mountain Rabbit"— "Bury Me Where I Lay, Boys"— Reminiscences of General Mann: How He was Frightened: A Good Lawyer Wanted— The Hegira of Colored Servants at Edinburg, Va.— Ely's Foraging Expedition- Captain Botsford's Narrative— Dr. Clark and the Rebel Flag- Charley McGregor and the Pig— General Butler's Narrow Escape from Capture— Capture of a Doctor— The Reminiscences of Ezra A. Cook, Company G— Searching for Buried Wealth— The Last to Cross the River at Sir John's Run— The Sutler in a Rage. . . . 288—329

CHAPTEE XXI.

DEVOTED TO NARRATIVE, INCIDENTS, AND MISCELLANY.

George Riddle's Experiences— Narrative of Martin Van Buren Peters- Narrative of William H. Howard— Emile Guntz's Prison Experience at AndersonviUe, Ga.— An Incident at Castle Thunder, Richmond, Told by David H. Slagle— The "Bummers" in New York

CONTENTS.

PAGES.

City — Letter from Sergeant E. J. Thayer, ComiJany D, to Captain George O. Snowden Relative to the Skirmish of June 16th, 1864 — General Shields Gives the Band an Irish "Compliment" — Reminiscence of Surgeon S. C. Blake: Female Spies— Dr. De Normandie on Guard — The Wilmington Monument — General Grant's Terms of Surrender — The Place of Lee's Surrender — A Confederate Song — The Regimental Flags, and the Eagle — Requa Battery — Poem, Dedicated to the Thirty-Ninth, by Mrs. Mary C. White 330—367

CHAPTEE XXII.

Field and Stafif— Who They Were and What Has Become of Them— Roster, with Biographies — The Non-Commissioned Staff — Roster — Shoulder-straps and Chevrons — The Original Band — The Band of 1864-'65 368—391

CHAPTER XXIII.

Company A — How Organized — Roster and Biography — Summary of

CHAPTER XXIV.

Company B— How and Where Organized — Roster and Biographies —

CHAPTER XXV.

How Company C was Recruited— Roster and Biographies — Summary

of Casualties, Etc 422 — 434

CHAPTER XXVI.

Organization of Company D— Roster and Biographical Sketches —

CHAPTER XXVII.

Company E — How Recruited — Roster and Biography — Summary of i

CONTENTS. xvii

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PAGES.

Company F — How Recruited — Roster and Biographies — Summary of

CHAPTER XXIX.

Company G — How Recruited — Roster and Biographies — Summary of

CHAPTER XXX.

Company H — Brief History — Roster and Biography — Summary of

CHAPTER XXXI.

History of Company I — Roster of Members — Some Biographical

Sketches — Summary of Casualties, Etc 511 — 524

CHAPTER XXXII.

Company K — How and Where Recruited — Roster — Biographical

Sketches of Members — Summary of Casualties, Etc 525 — 548

CHAPTER XXXIII.

General Summary of Facts — Members of the Regiment Who Died in

Rebel Prisons 549 — 554