Company H.—Killed, Sam'l Giesinger, John B. Livingood, Sebastian Swendeman. In all, 3 killed. Wounded, 1st Lieutenant C. H. Gilmore, 2d Lieutenant A. Cowgill, James Brady, William S. Boone, Dennis Bahon, Charles Biernbrier, William A. Cottingham, Robert Finley, Israel Haller, Charles H. Newcomb, George W. Quails, Wm. Reckord, Francis M. Stickle, O. W. Boutwell, Venice C. Haller, Ambrose J. Shelton, Jos. W. Warren. In all, 17 wounded.
Company I.—Wounded, Thomas Pat, William Baird, John Jaka, James Lang, Jos. E. Stringer. In all, 5 wounded.
Company K.—Killed, James Ulen.—1. Wounded, George Myers, Levi Gibbs, Henry Stanger, John Burke, Charles W. Boles, Jos N. Coneden, Peter Hall, Sam'l C. Ulen, Frank M. Winsted. In all, 9 wounded.
The enemy driven from Corinth, our Regiment was again thrown out on the front, a position it had been occupying for some time before the battle. On the 8th of October, it moved South to Danville, Miss., and on the next day the left wing, Companies K, I, H, G, and F, moved on to Rienzi. Col. Mersy took command of all the troops at Rienzi, and Lieut. Col. Phillips, who had now rejoined the Regiment, after his severe wound at Shiloh, of the forces at Danville. The Regiment, with other troops of the 2d Brigade, performed outpost duty at the above named places until the 28th of November, 1862, when they returned and went into camp at Corinth, Miss.
On the 12th of December, the Regiment moved Southward again, going within five miles of Tupelo, Miss., and returned to camp at Corinth on the 19th of the same month; Col. Mersy being in command of the 2d Brigade, and Lieut. Col. Phillips in command of the Regiment.
On the 2d day of January, 1863, we moved three and a half miles East of Monterey, and bivouacked for the night, and returned to camp the next day; Gen. Forrest and his command having escaped across the river. The Regiment remained in camp until March, not having much duty, except guard duty.
During the period embraced in this chapter, some interesting incidents occurred. As I mentioned above, the two Captains Low, and Lieutenant Hughs, together with a considerable number of privates, were taken prisoners. I have given extensive extracts from the journal of a Rebel prisoner, showing the horrors of the battle-field. It may not be amiss to refer to some things connected with the prison-life of some of our boys, who were captured in this battle at Corinth.
The scene, as described by Captain G. G. Low, to the writer, beggars description. The horrors of their retreat was terrible. The Captain thinks if Napoleon's retreat from Moscow was much more terrible, he does not know how it was endured at all. But I shall here allow the Captain to speak for himself, by giving extracts from a written statement, which he kindly furnished me, of his prison-life:
"On the morning of the 3d of October, 1862, our Regiment received orders to move early in the morning. We had moved up the day before from Rienzi, to within 2 ½ miles of Corinth. As we approached Corinth, we could occasionally hear the boom of distant cannon. Conjecture was rife as to what it meant, so little did we expect an action. We passed through Corinth, and to the outer works on the West of it. Sometime before we obtained our position behind the rifle-pits, three had been heavy fighting on our left. We took our position here, feeling confident we could hold it against a vastly superior force. The enemy were gradually approaching from the front, and our line was being engaged, when I noticed a panic in my company. I was on the extreme left of our Regiment. Many of my men broke out of the ditch and started back. I ordered every man back to his place. They told me the 12th Ill. and 81st Ohio were running. I told them it mattered not; we would stay there until we were ordered away. I saw a change of front was necessary, and expected to hear the order to change front to rear, on first company. But it did not come. Soon after, I heard the order to move by the right flank; but it was too late. Already the enemy were in our rear. I saw it would be death for my men to attempt to leave their position, and I surrendered with seventeen of my command.
"We were moved back about three-fourths of a mile. I found that Captain C. M. Lowe and Lieutenant L. T. Hughes of our Regiment, were captured. We were placed under guard at or near a house. Here a woman abused us very much. She insisted that Captain Lowe was the mean Yankee that was there the night before and stole her chickens. The Captain assured her that he had never been there before, and that she must be mistaken. She was certain he was the man, and had it not been for the guard, she would have pitched into him rough-shod. I think she was as hard a specimen of the fair-sex as I have ever seen in the Sunny South; and I have seen many that outraged decency and forever disgraced the name of woman.
"After the excitement of the battle was over, or rather of the scenes through which we passed that day, we had time to reflect. Here we were, prisoners of war, held by a motley set of human beings that, as far as outward appearances were concerned, would be a disgrace to barbarians. I wondered, "Is this the boasted chivalry of the South, sent out to fight the hated poor men of the North, the 'mud-sills' and 'greasy mechanics?'" When I saw my poor boys, dressed in their blue uniform, contrasted with these rag-a-muffins, I felt proud of them.
"The "Rebs" had great stories to tell us. Bragg had captured Louisville and all Buell's army. Lee had captured Little Mac. and 40,000 prisoners. Governor Gamble, of Missouri, had turned over 40,000 troops, well armed and equipped, to the Southern Confederacy; and they had come with 70,000 men to capture Corinth, and drive Grant out of West Tennessee, and the war would be over in a few days. All were jubilant.
"At night, we moved in the woods about a mile, and were consoled with a lot of wounded of both armies. About 9 o'clock at night, the news came back that they had captured Corinth, and we would be moved up there in the morning. About this time, Col. Prevene, of a South Carolina Regiment, came to see us, (he was a Mason,) and took Capt. Lowe and myself outside the lines and had a long talk with us. He assured us that Corinth was not taken, and that it would not be; and further, that Gen. VanDorn was (to use his own language) a d—d fool for attacking the place. To-night we had nothing to eat, except a cup of coffee that a Rebel Lieutenant made for us. I furnished the coffee. We passed a restless night.
"The morning of the 4th dawned, and was ushered in with the boom of heavy cannon. This assured us that the place was not taken, but that they had approached very near it, as we could hear the guns of the forts. The cannonading and musketry was incessant from daylight until about 1 P. M. At that time, orders came to move us back to the rear. We took up our line of march to Dixie. Although we were prisoners in the hands of the enemy, yet we were jubilant. We knew they had been repulsed; that the stars and stripes had again been triumphant; and though we had a prison-life, and even starvation staring us in the face, yet there was not a man despondent. We were then suffering for something to eat, but we knew the "rebs." were suffering even more than we were; for they had nothing to eat when they attacked Corinth, and their only hope for something, was the capture of the place. In this they had failed. The retreat soon became a rout. Neither tongue nor pen can describe the sufferings during that memorable retreat. Wagons, with six mules attached, were filled with the wounded and dying, and the cowardly drivers whipping their mules at every jump. The groans of the dying and the curses of the wounded were enough to make the knees of terror tremble. One would think, that if human suffering would expiate the crime of treason, all this army should be forgiven; for they suffered from hunger, thirst, fatigue, and all the ills that follow a defeated, routed, broken and disheartened army. I could not help feeling sorry for the panic stricken wretches.
"At night, we camped about twelve miles from Corinth, on a little branch. I had coffee enough to make us a cup apiece. This, and a few crumbs of crackers, was all we had for twelve of us—eight Federal officers and four Rebel officers." (It will be remembered they had had nothing to eat the day before, and very little on the preceding day.) "We camped near a house, and there was a rooster, the only chicken left on the premises. We offered five dollars for it. The woman would not let us have it.
"On the morning of the 5th of October, we again moved, escorted by a company of the Rebel Jackson's cavalry, under command of Capt. Douglass. Let me mention here, that Capt. D. did all in his power to make his prisoners comfortable. While we were being marched back on the afternoon of the 4th, an aid of Gen. VanDorn's rode up and told him to move the prisoners faster. He said, 'If I move them faster they will fall down from exhaustion.' The aid replied, 'Let them fall, and be d—d. Shoot them if you cannot get them along.' But the Captain took his own gait, and treated all kindly. As we marched along this forenoon we saw a great number of their wounded on all sides of the road. About 1 o'clock we came in sight of Hatchie Bridge. We halted for a few moments, and soon we heard fighting in front of us. We were taken back about one mile, and halted in a hollow. We had been there but a few moments, when rifle shells came whistling in such close proximity that we had to retire further back. Soon we saw the Rebel mass come running back in, if possible, greater confusion than the day before. They thought the whole Rebel army would be captured. They took up the Hatchie about ten miles and crossed us, and we halted about 12 o'clock that night, near Ruckersville, Miss. Here they killed a beef weighing about 300 pounds, for the 300 prisoners and their guards, in all over 400. We had had nothing to eat that day but raw corn. We ate the beef without salt.
"On the morning of the 6th, we started towards Ripley, without anything else to eat. Arriving at that place late in the afternoon, they gave us a very little to eat, perhaps rations enough for fifty men. On the following morning we moved in the direction of Holly Springs, Miss. The day was very hot and the roads dusty. Add to this, the suffering from hunger, and it would be hard to describe the amount of suffering the men endured. We camped at night near a Mr. Robinson's. (To-day we had to march about nine miles out of the way, on account of some one destroying a bridge in the rear of the retreating army.) The officers got a very good supper at Mr. R.'s, by paying one dollar each, in Greenbacks. He would not take anything else. The men got but little to eat.
"On the morning of the 7th, the officers hired a team to take them to Holly Springs, for which they paid $20. We arrived there at 11 o'clock at night. Here we were taken to Col. Roddy's Head Quarters, He said he was surprised that we, being North-western men, were fighting Southern men. Captain Lowe told him that we were not in a condition to resent an insult, and did not wish to be insulted. This ended the conversation.
"The next evening we started by Railroad, under guard, for Jackson, Miss., arriving there about 10 A. M., on the 9th of October. Here we were taken before General Thillman, and paroled for that city and Vicksburg. We had good rooms at the best hotel in Jackson. On the morning of the 10th we took cars for Vicksburg. On this trip We had no guard, except one Rebel Captain. We arrived at Vicksburg about 1 o'clock, and were quartered at the 'Washington Hotel.' We were limited to certain streets. Otherwise we had our liberty. Our fare at the hotel was corn bread, corn coffee, fresh beef and molasses. The ladies were allowed wheat-bread, and when the darkies could do so without being detected by their master, they would supply us with that luxury. On the whole, we were treated pretty well by the 'Rebs.' We found them generally dispirited; but said they thought they never could be conquered, &c.
"On the 18th of October, we were paroled, and started up the river to meet our flag of truce boat. The sight of the old flag and hard bread created great joy among our men. Hard treatment, under a flag of treason, had endeared the old flag to them. A scanty supply of corn bread, and beef without salt, made 'hard tack' look and taste like the best food cooked. On the morning of the 19th of October, 1862, we took our course up the river for 'God's country.'"
A little incident narrated by Private Neal Vestal, of Co. E, who was taken prisoner at the same time with Captain Lowe, is worth noting. When the Rebs. were attacked by General Hurlbut, at the Hatchie on the 5th of October, and a panic was arising, a Rebel Captain passing by Neal, he inquired, good naturedly, "Well, Captain, what are you going to do with us now?" His reply was, "If I had my way, I would shoot you." At which Neal replied, "I bet six bits that man was not in the fight." At this response went up all along the line, "That is true!"