Nothing of especial interest occurred until Sunday, April 5th. On that day a brigade service had been appointed, and at three o'clock in the afternoon the Thirty-sixth and the One Hundredth Pennsylvania assembled. In the midst of the service, orders came for us to break camp immediately. We struck our tents, and marched to the depot, where cars were in waiting. Our baggage was put on board, and we were off for Cincinnati at half-past five. We reached Covington shortly after midnight, but remained in the cars until morning. We then marched to an open field near the station, and stacked arms. The colonel reported the arrival of the regiment to General Burnside, and learned that it was election day in Cincinnati, and we were there to quell any disturbance that might arise at the polls. But no disturbance occurred. We remained all day in the field near the depot, suffering not a little from the cold, bleak wind. Tuesday morning, about half-past seven o'clock, we left Covington, and reached Lexington about half-past three in the afternoon, when we marched to our old camp-ground, and spent the rest of the day in rearranging our quarters. On the journey we received a hearty greeting from the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, at Paris, where the regiment was stationed, and also from the One Hundredth Pennsylvania, at Lexington, on our return.
The next morning, April 8th, greatly to our surprise, we received orders, about eight o'clock, to strike tents. All was soon in readiness, and the brigade, the One Hundredth Pennsylvania in advance, marched through Lexington. The Thirty-sixth never made a better appearance than in the streets of Lexington that day. We reached Nicholasville about five o'clock in the afternoon, and encamped just beyond the town. The next morning we resumed our march, about seven o'clock. The men became quite footsore as we advanced, and many fell out. About one o'clock we crossed the Kentucky river. The scenery was most attractive, high rocky cliffs overhanging the river. We reached Camp Dick Robinson, near Bryantsville, about four o'clock. The camp had been occupied by the rebel General Bragg, who retreated on the approach of the Union troops, having been informed by a citizen that a large force was approaching.
April 13th, General Welch, formerly colonel of the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, but recently promoted, arrived at Camp Dick Robinson, and assumed command of the First Division. On the same day, Rev. C. M. Bowers, of Clinton, Mass., reached our camp, on a visit to the company from that town. When he returned home, a few days after, many of the men sent by him money which the paymaster had just left in their hands, and most kindly and faithfully he attended to the many little details of business thus confided to him.
The Forty-fifth Pennsylvania rejoined the brigade at this place. April 20th, Colonel Norton, who had been home on leave of absence, arrived in camp. The next day, April 21st, Colonel Bowman received orders to select four hundred men from his command, and to be ready to move the next morning in light marching order. The battalion, commanded by Colonel Bowman, left camp about six o'clock A.M., April 22d, in a drenching rain, which continued until noon, when the sun came out very warm, and made the march in the mud a fatiguing one. But the change from the routine of camp-life to a march through a wild and beautiful country was most exhilarating. At about three o'clock in the afternoon the battalion reached Harrodsburg, an aristocratic town, largely in sympathy with the rebellion, and encamped for the night on a beautiful green slope just outside of the town. In the morning we marched through the town again, exciting much curiosity and some enthusiasm. From Harrodsburg the march was continued ten or twelve miles, through a most delightful country, to the beautiful town of Danville, where we arrived about two o'clock in the afternoon, and halted for dinner. A leisurely march of about eight miles brought us, in the early evening, to our quarters at Camp Dick Robinson. The purpose of this march has never been disclosed. Colonel Bowman was not told. He was ordered to move; the roads, the halting-places, etc., were designated, but concerning the end in view he was not informed.
The regiment, with the brigade, remained at Camp Dick Robinson until April 30th, when we were aroused at four o'clock A.M., with orders to move at six. At the appointed time we were on the march. It was a beautiful day, and the roads were in excellent condition. We passed through Lancaster about noon, and halted for dinner. Later in the afternoon we encamped about a mile beyond Stanford. On the next day, May 1st, we remained in camp until one o'clock P.M., when we continued our march, and encamped about a mile beyond Hustonville. May 2d we advanced about ten miles in the afternoon, and encamped at Middleburgh, which is situated on a branch of the Green river.
On these marches amusing incidents were of frequent occurrence. One day the Twenty-seventh Michigan, a new regiment, had the advance; and, like all new troops, the men marched too fast, and too long a distance without rest. The next day the Forty-fifth Pennsylvania had the lead, and the Twenty-seventh Michigan was sandwiched in between the Forty-fifth and the Thirty-sixth. These two regiments had an agreement in reference to the day's march. The Forty-fifth started off with a long swing, and the Thirty-sixth followed up "right smart," in rear of the Twenty-seventh. The result was that the Twenty-seventh had a hard day of it. Many of the men fell out on the march, and laid down by the roadside, exhausted. Of course it was a good pull for the old regiments. One man in the Thirty-sixth fell down and fainted apparently. His eyes closed, and he seemed to be in a bad way. However, his case was not considered a serious one. The next morning the surgeon, who had some suspicions that the man was "playing it," asked him some amusing questions, and dismissed him without giving any decision in his case. "What shall I mark him?" asked the sergeant; "excused from duty, or not?" "Mark him for the land of Canaan," said the surgeon.
May 3d, the day after we reached Middleburgh, two colored boys came into camp, one of whom Captain Raymond hired, and the other was hired by the non-commissioned staff. The boys had just been arrayed in United States blue when the master of Captain Raymond's boy made his appearance with a cavalry officer, and, showing a writing, demanded his slave. The boy was frightened at the sight of his master, and said he would rather be shot where he was than go back to the whipping that awaited him. But we had no authority to detain him, and the master took him by the collar, and led him off. After he had gone, the other boy, finding that we could give him no protection, thought he had better go home voluntarily. So he started. Such, at that time, was the "peculiar institution" in Kentucky.
On the same day a Mr. Markham and three daughters—refugees from East Tennessee—visited our camp. In September, 1861, they were living in Scott County. One day a party of rebels approached the house in search of the father, who was a Union man. One of the rebels came forward to reconnoitre, and asked one of the daughters where her father was. She declined to answer. He then advanced toward her with bayonet fixed. To defend herself she seized an axe, and endeavored to parry his thrusts, but he succeeded in forcing the bayonet into her skull, just above the eye, putting out the eye, and causing the brain to protrude. The father, hearing her cries, rushed from his hiding-place, and shot the rebel dead. He then made his escape immediately. One of the sisters ran to the house to warn her cousin to flee also; but, the rest of the rebels coming up, he was soon killed. Two of their neighbors they hung, and left on the tree. This was a new side of the war to us,—a side of which we were to see more at a later period, when the regiment was in East Tennessee.
May 4th we moved our camp forward about a mile, in order to get upon better ground. On the following day our regimental baggage was reduced. Only three tents were allowed at head-quarters, while the line officers had five tents instead of ten, as heretofore. Wednesday, May 6th, at dress-parade a despatch from General Willcox to General Welch, announcing cheering news from the Rappahannock, was read. Not until two days later did we receive the tidings of Hooker's defeat at Chancellorsville. On Sunday, May 10th, there were rumors of the capture of Richmond. The first came early in the afternoon. Not long after dress-parade Colonel Bowman received a despatch, stating that Hooker, reinforced, had recrossed the Rappahannock, and that Stoneman and Dix had raised the stars and stripes on the rebel capitol. The news was at once communicated to the regiment, and was received with the wildest enthusiasm. Fires were built on a high hill near the camp, candles were issued to the men, and soon the camp of the Thirty-sixth was all ablaze. Then the several companies, under command of Captain Smith, with candles fixed on their bayonets, marched to the camp of the Twenty-seventh Michigan and One Hundredth Pennsylvania, cheering and receiving cheers from both regiments, which were in line to receive us. When the regiment returned to camp there were congratulatory speeches by Colonel Bowman, Acting Adjutant Hodgkins, Captain Warriner, Lieutenant Brigham, and others. It was a fourth of July occasion. We soon learned that we had exulted too soon.
On Wednesday, May 13th, rumors of a rebel raid by Morgan reached us. The pickets were strengthened and thrown farther out. Two days later a limited number of furloughs were granted in each company, and the men under Captain Raymond left for Stanford on their way home. There was no further information concerning the rebel raid. The division supply-trains moved back to Hustonville, also Edmunds' Battery.