War Stories for my Grandchildren

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.

In my letter of June 8, I give an account of our camp and surroundings at Murfreesboro: —

"When we arrived here the general directed me to camp the regiment in the fortress, a large and very strong series of earthworks and rifle-pits, built by Rosecrans's army after the battle of Stone River. The enclosures are large, open spaces, without a particle of shade or grass, entirely exposed to the sun. The troops already in the fortress have erected tolerably comfortable barracks, but there was no material out of which to make any more; and as our men had nothing but shelter tents, I was afraid if put into such a camp the exposure would bring on sickness. So I rode all round the vicinity of the town and found several very good camping-places, and induced the general to let us camp out of the fortress, in such suitable place as I might select. I found a very fine camp in a beautiful grove just at the edge of the town, and adjoining a very fine spring of water, which pleases officers and men very much. Two companies are stationed below on the railroad, and we shall have eight companies here, making a very respectable battalion.

"How long we will remain here is very uncertain, but we shall be very well satisfied to stay here during the remainder of our one hundred days. Since we went into camp I have been putting the regiment through in drill and duties of soldiers, keeping officers and men quite busy. Besides these drills, Lieutenant-Colonel Walker drills the officers an hour, and I have two recitations of officers an hour each in Tactics and Regulations. In the evenings after supper I give them a lecture on the Army Regulations, organization, and military customs, which is quite as profitable to me as to them, as it requires considerable study and posting on my part. We had our first battalion drill to-day and it proved quite interesting. At the present rate of daily duties in one month I shall have the regiment in a condition to compare favorably with the veteran regiments in drill at least. I want to bring them home well drilled and thoroughly instructed in the duties of the soldier. I have the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian, but I think the officers and the intelligent men appreciate it. The exercises not only make them better soldiers, but the active service makes them more healthy than to lie idle in camp.

"Our camping-ground is on the lawn in front of one of the finest houses in the State. The surroundings were before the ravages of war very beautiful. The house was the headquarters of the rebel General Bragg, before he fell back after the battle of Stone River. The owner was formerly quite wealthy, the possessor of a large plantation here and one in Mississippi. He is now keeping a store in town for the support of his family, reaping the reward of the rebellion of himself and relatives."

In my letter of June 13 I give another view of camp life: —

"Yesterday was our first real Sabbath in camp, and we spent it very pleasantly. We had the Sunday morning inspection at eight o'clock, beginning it with a short religious exercise by the chaplain. The inspection would have been very creditable to old soldiers. The men had their arms and accouterments and clothing in fine order and looked well. These Sunday morning inspections have a fine effect, it causes the men to clean up themselves and their arms, and makes them feel it is a real Sabbath, which they are likely to forget in camp.

"After inspection we were quite liberal in allowing the men more passes for the day, going out in squads in charge of officers. Some went to church, but many went to stroll over the battlefield of Stone River, which is about two miles from town. Major Hynes and I went in town to church, and heard Dr. Gazeton preach. He has just returned from the South. The Doctor is (or was) a New School Presbyterian of some reputation in Tennessee before the rebellion. He is a bitter rebel, but, of course, did not give any manifestation of it in his services. There was a strong New School Church here before the war, but they were all rebels; the church building almost ruined by the armies, and its members very much scattered.

"At five we had preaching by our chaplain, a Baptist brother from Spencer County, a good man but a very poor preacher, an old farmer and ignorant; is worse than the chaplains of my other two regiments. I shall go out of the war, I fear, with a poor opinion of chaplains from personal experience. Although our chaplain's sermon was a poor affair, the men were attentive and respectful. Altogether the day was very creditably passed by the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana. But how much more pleasantly and profitably it would have been spent by me at home, with my own family and in our own church."

In a letter of June 15 I refer to the character of the regiment: —

"We are getting along very pleasantly in camp; everything passes off quietly; the men are making a commendable degree of progress in the drill, and take to soldiering very readily. Thus far I have had no difficulty in controlling the men. I never saw a regiment more easily governed. This comes in part from its personnel. Being called upon for only one hundred days of service, many business and professional men, who could not well afford to give up their business entirely, can arrange to go into the army for so short a time; and as a result the lower officers and the men are many of them among our best citizens. Besides, the service is easy. We have none of the hard marches and exposures described by me in the campaigning of the Twenty-fifth and Sixty-fifth Indiana. As a private in one of the Evansville companies, was my younger brother James H., who left the senior class at the Indiana University before graduating to serve his country."

This letter also relates an event which brings out the terrible consequences of war in dividing families, especially in the border State of Kentucky: —

"I wrote you some time since that a brother of Major Hynes (of our One Hundred and Thirty-sixth) was in the rebel army and had been at home at Bardstown, Kentucky. Hynes received a letter this evening from his father telling him that his brother had been killed in trying to get back through our lines to the Southern army. He was shot in the woods and lay in the bushes two weeks before his father found the body."

Referring to the rebel cavalry raids which were just then threatening Washington and Baltimore, I wrote: —

"Even if Washington is burnt the rebels can't hold it, and it would be the means, I hope, of raising up the North to renewed efforts, and then there would be a good opportunity to remove the Capital to the West, where it ought to be. We have not suffered enough in the North yet to make the people see that there is to be no peace with the rebels except by their complete overthrow. Otherwise we are disgraced, ruined, forever destroyed as a nation. We must and will in the end put down this wicked rebellion. The ways of Providence are inscrutable. 'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,' but He is a God of Justice and Right, and we will triumph in the end. Had I been an infidel or a weak believer in the righteousness of God, long since I would have been discouraged, but I am not. Let us pray for our country, for the triumph of right, of truth, of freedom, and that God may in His wisdom hasten the end of this bloody war and the return of peace; and that we may together live to enjoy our family and Christian privileges under it."

On July 16 I report: —

"General Van Cleve has been called temporarily to Tullahoma, which leaves me in command of the post and brigade here, including Fortress Rosecrans. The change will probably be only for a few days or a week. I would much rather be with the regiment, as I am interested in the drill and instruction of the regiment, and can spend the time pleasantly with them.

"I am now at headquarters of the post very comfortably situated; have a room for myself carpeted and well furnished. Captain Otis, General Van Cleve's adjutant-general, a very competent officer, is left here, and he has his wife with him. It looks quite homelike to sit down at a table with a lady to preside, and also to nurse the baby. It was reported that the rebels were crossing the Tennessee River yesterday at Claysville, intending to make a raid on the railroad, but I hardly believe it."

A bright side of the soldier's life is given in my letter of July 21: —

"We have no news of special importance. I don't have very much to do in my post command, am comfortably situated in quarters, and have about enough business to keep the time from being dull. Captain Otis and his wife and I are the only members of our mess, and we have a very pleasant table. When General Rosecrans was in command here he established a large hospital garden, worked by the convalescents in the hospitals. It is now producing large quantities of vegetables, and our table is very liberally supplied from it with green corn, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, potatoes, squashes, etc. We also enjoy plenty of milk and butter, with ice to cool them. The general left his servant here, and he has nothing to do but take care of my room, black my boots, and brush my clothes, etc. There are a number of officers' wives here, and we have frequent company in our parlor of these and occasionally of rebel ladies. So you see the hardships of the poor soldier's life at present being undergone by me are such as I may be able to endure with safety to my life!"

In my letter of July 30, I report my return to the regiment: —

"General Van Cleve arrived last night and I returned to the command of the regiment. I think it was needing my attention from appearances. In the two weeks I have been absent there has been only one battalion drill. Although this is Saturday afternoon and we are not accustomed to having drill that afternoon, yet I am going to give them battalion drill to make up for lost time. I want them to make a fine appearance when we return to Indiana. We are now drilling in the bayonet exercise, which interests the men very much."

A week later I write: —

"We are having as usual a quiet Sabbath. My present term of service is so very different from that which I have heretofore been used to. Before it was all activity, bustle, battles, pursuits or retreats. But now it is all the quiet monotony of camp life, broken only by the routine of drill. Heretofore I seldom had a quiet Sunday. Now I can read my Bible and religious papers regularly, write to my dear one, and attend Church services. But with all these privileges there is no day in which I miss home so much."

Taking advantage of our quiet camp life, I obtained leave to visit Knoxville, where I had spent so many pleasant days the year before. My letter of the 13th of August gives some account of that visit: —

"Does it look natural to you to see this letter dated from Knoxville? I left Murfreesboro day before yesterday, woke up in the morning and found myself across the Tennessee River and in the midst of the mountains. The scenery is quite romantic and attractive. I felt at once that I was in East Tennessee. There is nothing in scenery like the mountains. In a little while we came in sight of Lookout Mountain, stretching far away with its range into Georgia, and jutting up with its bold promontory into the Tennessee River, and far above the mist of the river rose the spur so celebrated as Hooker's Battle of the Clouds. Soon we came into Chattanooga, bristling with its many battlements, and alive with the hurry and bustle of that great army dépôt. It is astonishing to note what a vast machinery it requires in the rear to support and keep supplied a large army.

"The run up to Knoxville was quite pleasant, where we arrived at half-past five in the evening. On my way up to the hotel I met an old Tennessee acquaintance who acted as a guide for me in my raids last autumn. He would listen to nothing but that I must be his guest, so I went around and stopped with him. I came down in town in the evening, and called on some of my old friends who showed much pleasure in seeing me again. To-day I have been busy in calling on other old friends, and took dinner to-day with Mrs. Locke, who was very glad to have me again at her house. I am to take supper with General Tillottson, commanding the post. I have found a number of the old Sixty-fifth and of my staff here on detailed duty.

"They are organizing an expedition for a raid into upper East Tennessee, in my old route of campaigning, and, to be frank, I have been very much tempted to go up with them, as they are anxious to have me. But it would detain me beyond my leave, and I might expect a scolding from my dear little wife. So I will leave in two or three days and return direct to Murfreesboro."

As the term of enlistment of our regiment was drawing to a close, a movement was set on foot to have me continue in the service. The Union men of western Kentucky were very anxious to have me return to that district and drive out the guerrillas, who had been very troublesome after I had left that region. They had been in conference with my older brother George, who took a great pride in my military career and was very ambitious for me. The plan was to have me made a brigadier general, and given a special command of western Kentucky. When this was made known to me I answered my brother George that if the command was tendered me without any effort on my part I might take it into consideration, but only on the express condition that my wife would consent to it. It is to this plan I refer in some of my letters to her. In the one of July 31 I say: —

"The expiration of our term of enlistment is drawing near and a strong effort will be made to get our regiment to reënlist for one, two, or three years. What do you say, – must I go in for it? They are also writing me from Kentucky urging me to come back there and clear the guerrillas out of my old field of operations. I must confess the latter proposition is something of a temptation to me. I would like to spend three or four weeks there in chasing out the guerrillas, and then I really do believe I could come home and stay there in peace."

On August 7 I write my wife: —

"I had been back from the army just long enough with my wife and little darlings to appreciate how much I had missed during the three years gone, and I do believe when I get home this time I shall be able to conclude that I have discharged my duty to my country and done my share of the fighting, and that I have also a duty to discharge to my family, which I have sadly neglected for the three years past; and I hope that for the rest of my life I shall devote myself to them. Major Hynes was saying to me the other day that you had acted so nobly during my absence he thought I owed it to you and my children when I was out of the service this time to stay at home. But I take so much interest in the war and am so thoroughly satisfied with the correctness of the principles for which it is being prosecuted, that I must confess I do not like to leave the army, when all of our experienced officers and men are so badly needed, but I hope I will be able to see my duty clear to stay at home. I trust my influence and efforts there will not be entirely useless."

I wrote fully to my wife of the plans of my Kentucky friends and my brother, and from my letters it appears they met with her decided disapproval. On August 20 I wrote: "I was sorry on my return from Knoxville and read your letters and saw how you felt about my going into the service again, that I had written George on the subject." And again I wrote: "I was sorry to know from your letter that my letter in which I had said something about reëntering the service had given you any pain or solicitude, as I did not design that it should do so. I never yet have entered the service or left home except with your consent or approval, and I will not do it in the future. As I have written heretofore, I think I have served my country long enough to serve my family awhile; and I hope nothing will occur to prevent my early return to my home."

Some fear was entertained that the efforts of the Confederate cavalry to break up the railroad connections would detain our regiment in Tennessee beyond the term of enlistment, but no such untoward event occurred. The One Hundred and Thirty-sixth left Murfreesboro on August 25 under my command, passed through Louisville the next day, and the day following took the cars at New Albany for Indianapolis. The citizens of Bloomington, the seat of Indiana University where the "Foster boys" had received their education, having notice that the regiment would pass their town about noon, entertained them with a hurried but sumptuous dinner. We found a warm supper awaiting us and were comfortably quartered at Indianapolis in barracks, where we spent one week waiting to be paid off and mustered out of the service. During this time we took part in a review by Governor Morton of six thousand troops gathered at the Capital of the State, and in this and our regimental parades we were enabled with much pride to exhibit our accomplishments in soldiery.

In the introduction to the compilation of these letters I described myself in entering the service as a peace man, as having no desire for military glory, having no special fitness for the life of a soldier, and entertaining a horror of war. The reader of these letters must have noted the gradual development of a taste for or satisfaction with the service. Even at the outset in Missouri, in describing in glowing colors the exposure to the climate and the hard marching, I manifest a certain enthusiasm for my success as a wagon-master, or for my prospective work of an architect of the log-hut winter quarters. I early mastered the tactics, army regulations, and camp régime, and often wrote of my interest in the drill and regimental and brigade exercises. I refer to the gallant charges of our regiment and brigade at Donelson, and speak of some parts of the bloody battle of Shiloh as "grand beyond description." I hardly had words sufficient to describe the deliverance by our army of the Union citizens of East Tennessee. My intercourse with my comrades, superior and inferior officers and men, is noticed as in all respects agreeable. When I entered the army I was not robust, having too long led a student and office life, but during my entire service I enjoyed almost uninterrupted good health, the letters constantly speaking of how the outdoor life and the most active campaigning best agreed with me. So that it has been seen that while at the end of three years of army service I was rejoiced to go back to my home, to my wife and little ones, an offer to reënter the army was quite a temptation to me.

But my life in the army did not alter the views I had formed in my college life of the horror and futility of war, but rather strengthened and confirmed them. I witnessed the sad effects of the conflict in dividing and embittering brothers of the same blood, the ravages of the battlefield and the hospital, the valuable lives lost and the widows and orphans, the enormous expenditure of money, and the great war debt and pensions to be paid by a coming generation. All these evils might have been avoided by a peaceful adjustment of the questions which were settled by the armed conflict. The emancipation of the slaves by purchase would have been many times less than the cost of the war in money, without counting the saving of the lives lost, the widows and orphans, and the bitterness engendered. There is a certain glamour about warfare which attracts the participant, but it is fictitious and unchristian. I pray God that our country may be delivered from its horrors in the future.

THE END