[CHAPTER IV.]
We prepare to march from Monroe—Arrival of Governor Wood with cavalry and artillery; and of the Fourteenth Illinois—How Mr. Dugan speaks of this in his book—A change of councils—The Third Iowa moves west on a train—Circumstances of the ride—Failure of an attempt to burn the Chariton River bridge—A few details—How young soldiers sometimes originate false alarms—Our camp at Chillicothe—General Hurlbut assumes command of the troops on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad—We draw our accoutrements at last—We leave Chillicothe and go into camp at Brookfield.
The morning after the affair at Monroe, our regiment prepared to march. But the arrival of additional reinforcements changed the complexion of affairs. We were reinforced by a squadron of cavalry and a section of light artillery under Ex-Governor Wood, of Illinois, and by the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, which came by rail. The Governor had come through from Quincy with a rush, burning the houses and confiscating the animals of guerrilla leaders, besides making prisoners of thirty or forty noted secessionists.
An account of the arrival of these reinforcements is given by Mr. Dugan in his book entitled "History of the Fighting Fourth Division." After detailing the circumstances of the journey of the Fourteenth from Monticello to Monroe, the grave "historian" goes on to say:
"When about two miles of town we left the cars and formed a line of battle, and supported Gov. Wood (who had accompanied us with five companies of independent cavalry from Quincy, Ill.), in a most brilliant charge upon the rebel columns, which resulted in their complete discomfiture. When the enemy's lines were broken by the impetuous charge of the Governor and his compatriots, and as they were flying in the wildest disorder, the Sixteenth sallied forth from their hastily constructed entrenchments, and poured a most destructive volley into the enemy's ranks, which emptied many a saddle, and sent not a few traitors to their final account."
My comrades, who were present on this occasion, will at once remark with what scrupulousness our author has detailed this occurrence. The Governor's "brilliant" and "impetuous" "charge" upon the "rebel columns," which had fled twenty hours before, reminds us strongly of Don Quixote's charge upon the army of Alifanfaron. The first intimation we had of the coming of the Fourteenth, was, when seeing them march up, stack arms in column, and cook their dinners as quietly as Sancho Panza at the saddlebags.
The old Governor seemed well pleased with the situation, and withal very affable to the boys. When we complained of having suffered on account of rations, he told us, with a shrewd wink, that it was good enough for us; we had no business to take prisoners with whom to divide our rations. Judging from his retinue of butternuts, his preaching did not at all harmonize with his practice.
The councils were now changed—why, we did not know. Our regiment went aboard a train of cars, and about two o'clock in the afternoon moved westward toward our former camp at Utica. About four o'clock, we reached Salt River Bridge, which the rebels had burned. Here we left this train, and with much trouble and fatigue got our baggage across the bridge and on board another train which was waiting to receive us.