About three months elapsed after my return home from the East Tennessee campaign when a new appeal was made to me to reënter the military service. General Sherman was assembling at and near Chattanooga an army to make his great drive on Atlanta and into the very heart of the rebellion. To succeed in his decisive movement he had to draw his supplies from north of the Ohio River over a single long line of railroad communication, reaching from Louisville through the States of Kentucky and Tennessee to Chattanooga, and beyond as his army advanced. This line of supplies was mainly through hostile territory, and every part of it had to be guarded by armed soldiers. In order to give Sherman every possible trained soldier to swell his army so as to make the movement a success, it was determined to send all the soldiers then guarding this line of railroad to the front, which would prove a large addition to the fighting force of Sherman's army, and to replace them as guards with new recruits, who could be effective behind intrenchments and when on the defensive. Accordingly the Governors of the States of the Middle West made a call upon their several States for regiments of volunteers to serve for one hundred days, the estimated period of Sherman's campaign to Atlanta.
The call upon the State of Indiana was responded to with alacrity, and within a few days several regiments were formed and in a short time made ready for service. It was the desire of Governor Morton to have these raw recruits commanded, as far as possible, as colonels and other staff officers, by men who had already seen service and were experienced in actual fighting. One of these regiments, largely made up from Evansville and the adjoining counties, expressed a strong desire that I might be appointed to command them, and this action was followed by a telegram from Governor Morton tendering me a commission as colonel, and making a strong appeal to me to again give my services to the country in this great emergency.
I confess the call did not strongly appeal to me from a military viewpoint, as the contemplated service did not promise any distinction in warlike operations; but on the other hand, it was a service which would be just as useful in promoting Sherman's success as if we should be sent to the front and take part in the actual fighting, for without this line of communication for supplies being maintained his campaign must assuredly prove a failure. I recalled the fact in ancient history that the greatest of Hebrew generals, following the well-recognized rules of warfare, insisted on giving to those who guarded the camp and protected the line to the rear the same honor and emoluments as those who did the fighting. The Scriptural historian has preserved King David's words: "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike." So important did he deem this principle that the historian records that "from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day."
I had made much progress in the business of settling my father's estate, the cause of my previous resignation, and having secured my wife's consent to my reënlistment, there seemed to be no good reason for not responding to the call of the Governor and my townsmen and neighbors, and within three days after tender of my commission I was on the way to put myself at the head of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana Infantry Volunteers. I have indicated that the character of the service to which we were to be assigned, the guarding of the railroad, did not promise any brilliant military exploits, and the extracts which I shall make from my letters may not be found of much interest, but they will at least set forth the manner in which we filled up our Hundred Days' service in the cause of our country.
The One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana was mustered into service May 23, 1864, at Indianapolis, and passed through Louisville. My letter of the 31st states:—
"We left Louisville on Saturday morning, and I stationed the companies along the railroad from Shepardsville to Nolin, ten miles below here (Elizabethtown) on the railroad. I had hardly got the companies distributed, selected my headquarters here, and got my dinner, before the train arrived from Nashville bringing an aide to Major-General Rousseau, who was on the hunt for the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana, which should go to his command in Tennessee, but he saw by the Louisville papers that it had been stopped, and would go along the railroad. The aide had orders for me to go direct to Nashville at once, disregarding all orders from all sources but the War Department; but as General Burbridge had ordered me to come here, and as I was in his district, and was guarding important bridges which should not be abandoned, I decided to wait until the generals should get their conflict in orders adjusted. We have been waiting in doubt as to our future for two days; meanwhile the generals had been telegraphing with each other and with me, until last night I received orders to go to Nashville as soon as transportation was provided. How soon the cars will be ready to take me down I do not know."
Within two days we arrived in Nashville whence my letter of June 4 says:—
"I wrote you a note yesterday that we would go to Murfreesboro. I went down there yesterday and returned this morning. I will be off for that place again in an hour with three companies. The rest of the regiment will follow to-night and in the morning. We shall not be quite so well situated there as we were at Elizabethtown, nor for that matter as comfortably situated as at home, but I think we can get through the one hundred days there at least tolerably safely, which is the great point with you, is it not? Uncle Tom arrived here yesterday from the Sixty-fifth in poor health. I have been hunting for him this morning, but have not as yet been able to find him."
This last refers to Colonel Johnson, of whom I have made reference in previous letters. Three times he had been granted furlough on account of ill-health, but with the grim determination of a martyr, he persisted in his effort to remain with his command, at that time at the front with Sherman's army.