CHAPTER V.
Friday, February 7th, 1862, we received marching orders, struck tents, and marched as far as Syracuse. On the 8th we marched through Tipton and on the evening of the 10th we went into camp near Jefferson City. We stayed in this camp until the 13th, when we went to town. Here a part of the regiment had quarters in the State House and the rest were in a large church house.
The weather at this date was below zero and there was plenty of snow on the ground. We had marched about eighty miles, over a very rough road and were worn out. Some of the boys almost played out on the morning of the 15th.
Stowed away in box cars, with fifty men to a car, we started for St. Louis. Early in the morning our train stopped at a small station for fuel and water. We were just in front of a little saloon, and as the boys were almost frozen, some were allowed to get out and get them a dram. Frank Smith, of our company, brought back a five-gallon keg of peach brandy and rolled it in through the car door. The door was closed as soon as all could get in. Some kind of a hammer was procured and the head of the keg was knocked in. The boys soon had their cups filled with brandy instead of coffee. The train started and the boys soon had the brandy keg emptied.
There was no more complaining of the cold, but it was certainly a mixed up drunken mess. Some of the boys wanted to fight but it did not amount to much because we were too thick and crowded to fight.
We got to the Union depot at St. Louis at 7 p. m. and at 8 o’clock we marched on board the steamer Iatan. On the morning of the 16th we ran into blocked ice at Cairo, Ill., the place where the Ohio runs into the Mississippi. We had to hammer away about four hours in order that we might get through the ice.
We passed Cairo, turned up the Ohio river, and landed at Paducah, Kentucky.
Here, on February 17th, we heard of the surrender of Fort Donellson. Several boats were lying at this place filled with the wounded. We went on up the river to Smithland, and here we turned our boat up the Cumberland river.
On the morning of the 18th of February, 1862, we landed at the Bluffs, under the big guns of Fort Donellson, Tennessee. We marched out through the dead bodies of both armies which had not yet been buried, for our troops were almost played out after three days of hard fighting.