The 125th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry: Attention Batallion!

by Robert M. Rogers

Three cheers for the Red, White and Blue."

We arrived safely in camp, feeling that we had passed a pleasant day.

When we arrived at Savannah we were the proud owner of a very large red rooster, whom we named "Jeremiah," but for short we generally addressed him as "Jerry." He was a character, if ever a rooster could be termed such, and if he had not acquired a great knowledge as the man's chickens who, on account of his many moves and changes, they had got so in the habit of having their legs tied, that they would, whenever they saw a covered wagon, run into the front yard, fall on their backs, and cross their legs ready for tieing; if Jeremiah had not learnt this much, he still was very easily managed, and would stand round of a morning while "Dick," our darkey, was loading down our pack mule with blankets, and other necessaries, getting ready for the march, and when it came time for "Jerry" to be lifted to his place on top of the load, he would make no objection, but would suffer himself to be tied on securely, and there he would ride all day. This had come to be such an every day matter, that it was almost a second nature to him, and his amazement was great, when day after day passed, and he was not called on to take his accustomed place on top of our portable treasures. "Jeremiah" waxed-fat, and would every now and then express his satisfaction at the situation, by a shrill crow. But the boys were getting tired of him, for in spite of our endeavors "Jerry" would somehow manage to get in our tents, and sleep, and at the first dawn of day, his crow would ring upon our ears. This was all right enough while we were on the march, but now that we were in camp, they failed to appreciate it, so threats of vengeance were loudly made. We begged and plead for him, but all to no purpose, "they were not going to have that miserable rooster crowing in their ears every morning," they said, so finally we had to yield to the pressure of public opinion, and gave the order for "Jerry" to be executed, which was accordingly done, and we whetted our teeth to devour him. "Jeremiah" was undoubtedly an old bird, for constant boiling all day, failed to render him tender. But we had a feast, all the same, as "Jerry," after being cut up in small pieces, and having for accompaniment a large piece of pork, and a handful or two of hardtack, made a camp kettle full of food. We picked poor "Jerry's" bones clean, thereby proving, although in different words, the truth of the old adage, "the big roosters eat up the little ones."

CHAPTER XXIX.

Here at Savannah we fared sumptuously on oysters and fresh fish. Every evening the negroes would come up to the city from the mouth of the river, with their boat loads of oysters. These we purchased at the rate of one dollar per bushel, and taking them to camp would throw them on the fire, and let them roast, the opening of the shell indicating when the bivalve was thoroughly cooked. Many a feast of this sort did we have while there. But our feasting and merry making was rudely ended by the bugle one morning sounding the call to "strike tents." Everything was ready, and we were now to leave Savannah, and commence the march which ended at Washington. The city of Savannah and the forts around it were transferred to Gen. Foster, commanding the department of the south, and on the 19th of January, 1865, all preparations were completed and the march commenced. The weather was very bad, the January rains had commenced to fall, swelling the Savannah river, overflowing its bottoms and making the roads miserable. This made no difference, however, to our general, so we marched up the river to Sisters Ferry, but owing to the high state of the water, and the difficulty in laying the pontoons, we did not succeed in getting everything across, until the first week in February. And now we entered on the soil of South Carolina, and the feelings of the men were openly expressed as they stepped off of the pontoons, by the declaration that now they were in the state which had caused more trouble than any other state in the union. We were behind the rest of the army owing to the difficulties encountered in crossing the Savannah, and so we had to march rapidly to overtake the right wing, but at last we caught up with it. Foraging was again the order of the day, we were compelled to subsist off of the country through which we passed. Every morning a detail of two men from each company would be made, making twenty men to a regiment. They were put under command of a commissioned officer, and would leave camp about an hour before the army moved. These men would strike off into the country around and gather up all the provisions they could find, and towards evening would turn their steps towards the roads on which the corps was marching. They would come into camp in all styles of transportation. Here would be a couple of fellows, who in their wanderings had found a fine buggy or carriage; hunting up a mule or a horse, they would hitch him to the vehicle, and loading it down with the proceeds of their day's search, would come gravely riding into camp amid the laughter of all who saw them. Or some other squad had come across a grist mill, and if there was no grist on hand to be ground, they would soon procure some from somebody's corn-field or granary, and starting up the machinery would grind it in good workmanlike style, load it into an old wagon or anything they could find and bring it into camp, burning the mill to the ground, however, before leaving it. Others would make their appearance riding on some old mule or horse, which they had picked up, loaded down with hams, bacon, chickens, sweet potatoes or whatever they could find. By these means we were provided with plenty of food and in great variety. The army occupied four roads travelling parallel to each other, and the location of each corps could be easily known by the cloud of smoke that hovered over it by day, and the light of the camp fires which lit up the heavens at night. Our march through South Carolina, often recalled to our minds the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness when the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire. Our line of march extended over a strip of country nearly sixty miles in width, and with the exception of the negro huts, this land was stripped of everything. There were undoubtedly many acts of wanton cruelty and villainous outrage committed by some, but the mass of the army was opposed to such actions, and loudly condemned them. Of course, in an army the size of ours, there were all phases of humanity, and it was plainly seen that the members of regiments, which had been made up in some of our large cities, were oftener guilty of acts of violence than men from regiments which had been formed in the agricultural parts of the country. This was entirely logical, as the reader can easily understand. The weather still continued rainy, and the roads were terrible, often requiring the severest labor on the part of all to make them passable for our teams, by corduroying them. At last we reached the banks of the Congaree, on the other side of which the city of Columbia, the capitol of the state, was situated, and on the night of February the 15th, the enemy amused themselves by shelling our camps from a battery posted on that side of the river. And now we come to a matter, which, although not having any particular bearing on the regiment, as we did not come within two miles of the city, still as a part of the army then in front of Columbia, we must suffer in common with other regiments from the stigma the rebels sought to cast upon our arms, by the destruction of that city by fire on the night of the 17th of February. Major General Howard had received orders from the general commanding, to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not needed for the use of our army, as well as railroads, depots and machinery useful in war to an enemy, but to spare all dwellings, colleges, schools, asylums, and harmless private property. The day of the occupation of Columbia was clear, but a tremendous wind was blowing. One brigade of our army was in the city and properly posted. Citizens and soldiers were on the streets, and good order prevailed. General Wade Hampton, who commanded the rebel rear guard of cavalry, had, in anticipation of the capture of Columbia, ordered that all cotton, public and private, should be moved into the streets and fired. Bales were piled everywhere, the rope and bagging cut, and tufts of cotton were blown about in the wind, lodged in the trees and against houses, so as to resemble a snow storm. Some of these piles of cotton were burning, especially one in the very heart of the city, near the court-house, but the fire was partially subdued by the labor of our soldiers. Before one single public building had been fired by order, the smoldering fires, set by Hampton's orders, were rekindled by the wind and communicated to the buildings around. About dark they had began to spread and get beyond the control of the brigade on duty in the city. A whole division was brought in, but it was found impossible to check the flames, which by midnight, had become unmanageable and raged until about four a. m., when the wind subsiding, they were brought under control. Gen. Sherman in his report says:

"I was up nearly all night and saw Generals Howard, Logan and Wood and others laboring to save houses and protect families thus suddenly deprived of shelter, and of bedding, and wearing apparel. I disclaim, on the part of my army, any agency in this fire, but, on the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed. And without hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with a malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly "Roman Stoicism," but from folly and want of sense in filling it with lint, cotton and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked well to extinguish the flames, but others not on duty, including the officers who had long been imprisoned there, rescued by us, may have assisted in spreading the fire after it had once begun, and may have indulged in unconcealed joy to see the ruin of the capitol of South Carolina. Thus ends the account of the destruction of Columbia." We shall not enter into any discussion of the matter, as we firmly believe, along with Gen. Sherman, that it was all caused by the folly or ignorance of Gen. Wade Hampton.

CHAPTER XXX.

It was now the 21st of February, and our wing of the army had reached Winnsboro, where we went to work destroying the rail road up to Blackstake's depot, and then turned to Rocky Mount, on the Catawba river. From the 23rd to the 26th, heavy rains fell swelling the rivers, and making the roads almost impassable. On the 26th we reached Hanging Rock, and made preparations to cross the river, but the heavy rains had so swollen the stream, that our pontoon bridge broke, and we had hard work to restore it. At last we succeeded, and were put in motion for Cheraw, which place we entered on the 3rd day of March; the enemy retreating across the Pedee river and burning the bridge. Here we found much ammunition, and many guns which had been brought from Charleston on the evacuation of that city. These were destroyed, as also the rail road bridges and trestles as far down as Darlington, when we were again put in motion for Fayetteville, North Carolina. The weather still continued bad and the roads fearful, but we reached there on the 11th of March, skirmishing with Wade Hampton's cavalry that covered the rear of Hardee's retreating army. During the night of the 9th, Hampton made a dash on our cavalry on our left flank at daylight and captured one of their camps, and the house in which General Kilpatrick had his headquarters. But Kilpatrick escaped in his underclothes and rallying his men on foot in a swamp near by, succeeded in routing the enemy, regaining his artillery, horses, camp and everything, save a few prisoners whom the enemy carried off, leaving their dead on the ground. All that day, the cavalry boys who had made their escape after being taken prisoners by the enemy, kept coming into our line of march, some of them without hats, coats or shoes, all of them on foot. But they soon left us and returned to their command. Their appearance, however, was ludicrous, and their accounts of how they came to be captured, were generally the same. The way in which it happened was this: During the night of the 9th, General Kilpatrick had divided his three brigades to picket the roads. Hampton, detecting this, dashed in at daylight, and made the capture. The 12th, 13th and 14th, were passed at Fayetteville, destroying the arsenal and the vast amount of machinery which had formerly belonged to the old Harper's Ferry United States arsenal. Every building was knocked down and burned, and every piece of machinery utterly broken up and ruined. On the 15th of March we again moved forward, the cavalry marching in advance and skirmishing heavily with the enemy's rear guard all day. Next morning we again advanced in the same order, and developed the enemy with artillery, infantry and cavalry, in an intrenched position in front of the point where the road branches off towards Goldsboro through Bentonville. Orders were given to press forward and carry his position, only difficult by reason of the nature of the ground, which was so soft that horses would sink everywhere, and even men could hardly make their way. Line of battle was formed as quickly as possible, and skirmishers thrown out, who soon developed the position of a brigade of Charleston heavy artillery armed as infantry, posted across the road behind a light parapet, with a battery enfilading the approach across a cleared field, but they retreated in confusion, leaving in our hands three guns, and 217 prisoners, of which 68 were wounded and left in a house near by with a rebel officer, four men and five days rations. One hundred and eighty rebel dead were buried by us. Hardee retreated on the road to Smithfield. This was the battle of Averysboro. We lost 12 officers and 65 men killed, and 477 wounded, but no prisoners. On the night of the 18th we went into camp on the Goldsboro road, twenty-seven miles from Goldsboro, and about five miles from Bentonville, where the road from Clinton to Smithfield crosses the Goldsboro road. The enemy was badly defeated, and all indications pointed that he would make no further opposition to our advance, but subsequent events proved that such was not the case. We were now marching on Goldsboro, in North Carolina, our objective point. On the morning of the 19th, we pushed forward to Bentonville, encountering on the road, and driving them before us, Dibbrell's cavalry, until within a few miles of the town, where we found the whole rebel army, strongly posted, under command of Johnston himself. Gen. Sherman had gone, that morning, with his staff and escort, over to the right. He was promptly advised as to how matters stood, and we were ordered to act on the defensive until Blair's corps could draw up, and the three remaining divisions of the fifteenth corps could come in on Johnston's left rear, from the direction of Cox's bridge. In the mean time we received word, by courier, that Schofield and Terry would be able to reach Goldsboro by the 21st. Orders were sent to Schofield to push for Goldsboro. By daylight on the 20th, General Howard, leaving his wagon train with sufficient guard, was marching rapidly on Bentonville. And now we come to the battle of Bentonville. Our advance guard, consisting of two brigades, was vigorously attacked, and driven back on our main body, by the enemy, who thereby gained a temporary advantage, and captured three guns and caissons from General Carlin's division of our corps. As soon, however, as General Slocum ascertained that he was confronted by the whole rebel army, he deployed the second division of our corps, to which our regiment belonged, and brought up on our left the second division of the 20th corps, arranging them behind hastily constructed barricades, and holding them strictly on the defensive. Kilpatrick with his cavalry also came up at the sound of artillery, and massed on our left. In this position we repulsed, without giving an inch of ground, six distinct charges of the combined forces of Hoke, Hardee and Cheatham. Our artillery got into position, and played on the rebel ranks as they came up to the charge, doing fearful execution; the slaughter was terrible. Johnston had moved the night before from Smithfield, leaving all his unnecessary wheels behind him, and but with little artillery, with the intention of overwhelming our left flank before it could be relieved by our other column coming to our assistance, but Johnston had not yet learned that the eye of Sherman was always on the watch, and that he was prepared for any emergency that might arise. During the night of the 19th, Gen. Slocum got up the wagon train with the two divisions guarding it, and General Hazen's division of the 15th corps. This reinforcement made it impossible for Johnston to overwhelm us. The right wing encountered the rebel cavalry, as it was coming to our support, but drove it with serious loss until the head of the column encountered a considerable body behind a barricade at the forks of the road near Bentonville, about three miles east of the battle field of the day before. This force was quickly dislodged and the intersection of the roads secured. These movements which were being made were all accomplished by 4 p. m. of the 20th, when we opened out to the astonished gaze of General Johnston, a complete and strong line of battle. His intention of crushing and capturing our left wing, was completely foiled, and instead of being the aggressor, he found himself placed on the defensive, with Mill creek in his rear, spanned by a single bridge. It was General Sherman's desire to hold the enemy in position until Generals Schofield and Terry could advance and cut off his retreat, thus completely "bagging" him, so he did not press him to battle, but continued to annoy him with the skirmishers, using the artillery freely on all the wooded ground in front, and feeling strongly for the flanks of his position, which were found to be covered by swamps. All of our empty wagons were sent to Kinston for supplies, and all other impediments were grouped south of Goldsboro, near the Neuse river, while the main army were held ready to fight the enemy if he should dare venture out of his works. A weakness in the enemy's position had been developed, of which advantage might be taken, but that night he retreated on Smithfield, leaving his pickets to be taken prisoners, many dead unburied, and wounded in his field hospitals. Pursuit was made on the morning of the 22nd, two miles beyond Mill creek, but was then stopped. Our loss in this engagement was 1,646 killed, wounded and missing. The enemy left 267 dead unburied, and 1,625 prisoners. For a more detailed account of the operations of the brigade and regiment, the reader will please to consult the reports attached to this history. By the evening of the 24th, our army was encamped at Goldsboro. On the 25th, only four days after, the rail road from Newbern was finished, and the first train of cars arrived, bringing ample supplies of all descriptions from Morehead City. It will never be known with any degree of certainty, the amount of injury done the enemy in this campaign, or the quantity of guns, and materials of war, destroyed. We had traveled the country from Savannah to Goldsboro, with an average breadth of forty miles, and had consumed all the forage, cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry, bacon and corn meal that lay in our route. The campaign was ended on the 21st day of March, by the junction of the three armies and the occupation of Goldsboro. We went into camp, where clothing, and supplies were issued to us as fast as they could be brought up from the coast.