Memoirs of a Veteran Who Served as a Private in the 60's in the War Between the States Personal Incidents, Experiences and Observations

CHAPTER XVIII

As matters now stood, I was determined not to return to my Company until I was entirely recovered to my usual health. So I reported to Dr. Green in charge of the Floyd House Hospital for treatment. He asked me what was the matter with me; I told him I did not know. He stripped me and made a thorough examination, and when he got through he said, "You have an enlargement of the heart, and ought not to be exposed." He prescribed for me, and I reported to him daily until my furlough had expired. I felt a great deal better and was about ready to return to my command, but Dr. Green advised me not to do it yet awhile. I said, "My furlough is out;" He said, "That does not make any difference, you are under my charge for the present." In the meantime Major Roland was removed as Commander of the Post at Macon and Col. Aiken was appointed in his stead. While in the Hospital I made myself useful, and Dr. Green appointed me General Ward-Master. My duties were to look over the entire wards and see that those under me did their duty, and that all inmates were properly attended to. One good morning Sergt. Haywood Ainsworth came to me, saying, "Ike I have in my possession a letter for the Commander of the Post, Col. Aiken, from Capt. Evan P. Howell; he is giving you the devil; he sent me after you. If you go with me to the command I will not deliver it." I said, "Haywood, do you know what he writes in that letter?" "No, not exactly, but it is very severe." "I'd like to see what he says." "Have you seen Col. Aiken; does he know you?" No. "I will tell you what we will do; you give me the letter and I will deliver it myself; you can see that I do it, he will not know me from you, as he does not know either of us." Ainsworth laughed and says, "Well as you say." So we both marched up to the Provost Marshal's office. Col. Aiken was sitting in a chair at his desk. I walked up to him, gave him the military salute, handed him the letter and took my position behind his chair, looking over his shoulder as he read the letter. Capt. Howell did not at all times write a very legible hand for one not used to his writing; hence I being used to it, got through before the Colonel did, I took a little step to my left and rear, awaiting Col. Aiken's orders. "Sergeant, where is the man?" asked he. "He is in the Floyd house hospital, in charge of Dr. Green." "Is he sick." "I suppose so." "Then he is under proper authority, I can do nothing in this case, as it stands. You go and see Dr. Green and ask him if Hermann is well enough to be discharged and go to camp. If so and he refuses to go, come to me and I will give the necessary assistance required." I thanked him, saying, "Col. I do not think there will be any necessity for me to trouble you further," and Haywood and myself left, laughing all the way. Sergt. Ainsworth then said, Well Ike, you are a good one, I know you won't give me away. I said, You surely do not think that of me. Oh no! I have all confidence in you. Well, what are you going to do? I will go back with you; I shall face the gentleman and tell him what I think of him. What was in the letter, what did he say? He stated in the letter that I was a very desperate character; that I left in time of battle; that he had used all his efforts to get me back to my command, and had failed. To please give Sergt. Ainsworth all necessary assistance to accomplish that object. Continuing, I said, Haywood, you like to go home; so do I. Suppose we go to Washington county for a few days, say until Friday. You living in town put a notice in the paper, stating that you will return to our camp which is now at Dalton, and will take pleasure in forwarding anything that may be sent to the boys from their friends and families. Sergt. Ainsworth said, That is a good idea. I said, Well I will meet you at Tennille Friday on the night train. But before we go, I must have the approval of Dr. Green, under whose charge I now am; so we went to see Dr. Green: I stated to him that I would like to return to my command. He said, You are not well enough to do camp duty. I said, Well, under circumstances as they are, I am willing to take my chances. I stated to him the facts as they were, in the presence of Sergt. Ainsworth, who coincided to everything I said. Then I remarked, Doctor, you have been very kind to me, and done me lots of good, for which I am very grateful, but I can't rest under such imputation; I intend to straighten matters out. So he said, Well, if I can do anything for you or be any service to you, let me know what it is and I will be glad to do it. I said, All I want is for you to give me a statement under what condition I placed myself under your care, and the date of my admittance and discharge, and your opinion as to my present condition for active service. He said he would do that, he would make a statement and have it ready in an hour. In the meantime Sergt. Ainsworth and myself took a stroll through the city. I told my relatives and friends good bye. We returned to the hospital, they were all sorry I left them. Doctor Green gave me the papers I required, I put them in my pocket unopened. He said, If there is anything else you need, let me know. I thanked him very kindly, and we left for Washington county. Sergt. Ainsworth said to me, Dr. Green seems to think a great deal of you; he seems to be a perfect gentleman. I said, Yes, everybody who comes in contact with him likes him; he is a very conscientious Doctor and is very attentive to his business. Friday night I took the train at Davisboro; I had about a dozen boxes for the boys in camp, under my charge at Tennille. Sergt. Ainsworth met me with as many more boxes, and we travelled to Dalton; it took us two nights and a day to get there. It was Sunday morning early, when we reached camp. The boys were all glad to see us, we delivered our trust and there was plenty of good things to eat in camp, in consequence of our forethought. During my absence from camp Dr. Stewart was transferred and Dr. Beauchamp took his place. I had never seen him before, so I at once reported to him, gave him my papers from Dr. Green and he at once relieved me from active duty. Then I stated to him why I had returned to camp, and the feud that existed between Capt. Howell and myself, and what he had done and said. So I was determined to face the worst. I walked about that day among the boys in camp, all of whom were my friends; if I had an enemy in camp outside of Capt. Howell, I did not know it. About four o'clock p. m. I bethought myself since I was not arrested after the awful charges having been made against me, I had probably better report my presence, although every one in camp, Captain included, knew I was there. So I just met Sergt. Hines, being very intimate with him, I said, Bill, you want to have some fun? Come with me, I am going to report at headquarters; since all that hullabaloo I am still unmolested. The officers quarters were about one hundred yards up on a ridge from where the pieces were parked. Capt. Howell was sitting in front of his tent. I gave him the salute, saying, Well, here I am. He answered, I thought I never would see you again. I said probably you would not, if it had not been for some d–d lies written to Col. Aiken, Provost Marshal at Macon. Who wrote them? Capt. Evan P. Howell, Comdg. Battery. If you think that I am afraid of powder and ball, try me ten steps. Do you mean it as a challenge? You are an officer; I am a private; it is for you to construe it as you see fit. I'll have you court-martialed and shot. I dare you to do it. In the meantime Sergt. Hines was swinging to my jacket and we withdrew. So Hines said, If I had known that you would get mad that way I would not have come with you. So I remarked, I wanted you to come and be a witness, as to what should pass between him and me. A half hour later Sergt. Hines came to me, saying, Ike, you are on duty tonight. By whose orders? Capt. Howell's. I said, It is not a rule to put a man on guard duty who had passed two nights in succession without sleep, he might fall asleep on his post. However, I did not come here to do duty, I merely came to see what punishment Capt. Howell would inflict on me, as he stated that I deserted; and again, I am relieved from duty by Dr. Beauchamp. Sergt. Hines made his report. I saw Capt. Howell hastily walk over to Dr. Beauchamp's quarters and expostulated with him as to my ability of doing duty, thus impugning the Doctor's capacity as a physician, he who after a thorough examination having passed on my condition; I heard Dr. Beauchamp speaking in a loud voice: "Capt. Howell, if you would attend to your duty as faithfully as I do mine you would get along better with your men." Howell replied that he would have me examined by a Board of Physicians. That's all right, that is exactly what Hermann asked me to have done and I have already set him down to meet the Board at Dalton on next Wednesday. In the meantime Dr. Beauchamp treated me and I reported to him daily, when able to be up; if not he came to my quarters.

CHAPTER XIX

Wednesday came, the day I was to report before the Board; I was not feeling as well as I had a day or so previous. I went to Bell, our ambulance driver, saying Joe, I have to meet the Board today at Dalton, you will have to carry me there. He answered he could not do it as he had orders from Capt. Howell to have the ambulance ready for him, as he wanted to make a social call, so I said no more. Dr. Beauchamp who saw me walking about in camp, came to me saying, I thought you were going to Dalton today. I said I would go but Mr. Bell said the Capt. engaged the ambulance to go on a social call; I thought that vehicle belonged to your department and is intended for the sick only. So it is, says the Doctor, and I am going to see about it. I said, Doctor, I do not feel well enough to walk three miles and back today. In a few minutes Joe Bell drove up with the ambulance, saying, Ike, get ready, I will drive you to town. So I went before the field Board of Surgeons and Physicians. Dr. Beauchamp had sent in his report of me, and I was pronounced unfit for active duty and discharged from service on account of ill health. This action took me from under the jurisdiction of Capt. Howell, greatly to my relief. I thanked the Board, saying, Gentlemen, I enlisted for the war, and at times I am able to do some duty. There are other duties besides standing guard, camping out and shooting. I am willing to do anything I am able to do. About that time Major Martin came in, undoubtedly sent there by Capt. Howell. After speaking to the Doctors he turned to me, we shook hands and he said, Well Hermann, take good care of yourself, I hope you will recover and get entirely well; you have been badly treated, I am sorry to say. Good bye. We again shook hands, he mounted his horse and departed at a gallop. The Board gave me an order to report to Gen. E. K. Smith, who was then in Atlanta, doing post duty. He asked me how long I had been on the sick list, and I replied about three months. He said, Can you do any office work; I answered I did not know to what kind of work he would assign me to. He said, Can you write? I told him yes; so he put me to copying some documents, which I did to his satisfaction. The desk at which he put me to work was breast high and I had to stand up. The following day I was suffering so I could not do anything, and I had no more medicine. The next day I felt worse. Dr. G. G. Crawford called in the office; he was in charge of the fair ground hospital. General Smith said, Doctor, what is the matter with this man; since yesterday, he seems to be suffering very much. Dr. Crawford spoke to me and asked what my complaint was. I told him I was suffering in my chest, and I was trying to write at that desk and grew worse. He said, You are a Frenchman! I said Yes. He said he could tell it from my brogue. And he then talked French to me and told me he studied medicine in Paris, and having lived there myself our conversation grew interesting to both of us. So he turned to General Smith and said General, I think I can help him considerably, even if I can't cure him. So General said, "Hermann, you go with Dr. Crawford, he will take charge of you." And we left together for the fair ground hospital, a temporary institution, built of wood, roughly put up, consisting of several wards, whitewashed in and out. I found Dr. Crawford to be a perfect gentleman and very interesting and we got along like brothers; he was very kind to me. Under his treatment I recuperated wonderfully and in a couple of weeks I thought I was entirely cured. I made myself as useful as possible, still continuing my course of medicine. Dr. Crawford appointed me to the same position I held under Dr. Green at the Floyd hospital at Macon, and he was well pleased with my work, as well as the inmates of the hospital.

CHAPTER XX

General Bragg was removed from the command of the army of Tennessee and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston appointed in his place early in the Spring of 1864. The campaign opened and Gen. J. T. Sherman commanded the Federal forces. His sanguinary and uncivilized warfare on the defenseless is a matter of history. His careless application of the torch, destroying by fire whatsoever he could not carry off, leaving the old and decrepit, the women and children to perish in his wake as he marched through Georgia, and reducing to ashes everything within his reach, within a scope of territory fifty miles wide by over three hundred miles long. Johnston's army consisted of only about half the strength of that of his antagonist, consequently he adopted tactics by which he reduced Sherman's army every time that General would make an attack. Joseph E. Johnston acted all along on the defensive, but was ever ready to inflict severe punishment. When General Sherman would force his lines of defense, thus General Johnston generally ceded ground. While his defeats were actual victories, as the cemeteries along the line of his march indicate. The hospitals were filling up with sick and wounded; provisions became scarce, especially as our territory became gradually contracted. So Dr. Crawford came to me one morning, saying, "Hermann, I want to send you out on a foraging expedition. Do you think you can buy up provisions for the hospital? I just drew my allowance of $10,000.00; it wont buy much at present prices." Yes, I can try and make it go as far as possible. What do you say? I remarked, Doctor, I will try and do my best. So he gave me two packages of newly struck Confederate money, all the way from $1,000.00 to $5.00 bills, more money than I had ever had in my possession, and I was actually afraid to carry such sums around with me, although I knew it was not of much value. I also wanted all the linen, lint and bandages that I could get. I came to Washington county where I was known; I put a notice in the weekly paper edited by J. M. G. Medlock, setting forth my mission, and that I would gladly receive any contribution for the sick and wounded at the fair ground hospital in Atlanta, under the charge of Dr. Geo. G. Crawford, of the army of Tennessee, and that I would pay the market price to any who did not feel able to contribute the same free of charge; that I would publish all contributions in the Central Georgian. I wrote to the Central Railroad Company's office at Savannah, asking them to kindly spare me two box cars, one at Bartow and one at Davisboro, on a certain day, when I would load them with provisions for the hospital. The officials kindly offered me the cars free of charge. It was on Thursday I came to Bartow. Mr. Sam Evans, the agent, gave me all his assistance, and provisions commenced to rolling in. Mr. Warren from Louisville, Ga., sent me four horse wagon loads of flour from his mill, free of charge. Mr. Tarver, a large planter, brought me a heavy load of meats, chicken, eggs, butter, etc. Mr. B. G. Smith also brought me a hogshead of hams, shoulders and sides, the meat all nicely smoked, and 100 pounds of leaf lard, chickens, eggs and sweet potatoes, in fact the farmers of that section, all well to do people and slave owners, vied with each other as to who could do the most. I filled up the car that day with the choicest provisions which did not cost me a nickel. Many poor women would bring me the last chicken they had, and when I wanted to pay for the same refused to take the money, and regretted they could not do any more. They unraveled all the old linen table cloth and brought me bags full of lint and bandages. That night I forwarded the car under special instructions by Mr. Evans that it contained perishable goods, labeled for the hospital in Atlanta. The following day I went to Davisboro, Ga. W. C. Riddle, Simon Thomas, Daniel Inman, Ben Jordan, Syl Prince, Daniel Harris and others in that neighborhood proved themselves as generous and patriotic as the people of Bartow and filled my car to overflowing with all kinds of provisions, with the exception of one instance; in regard to his worthy family I will withhold his name. He was a well to do farmer and had a profession. He was a hot secessionist and made speeches to that effect. On the day of receiving he came up in a fine buggy, with a bushel of sweet potatoes. I said to him, What are they worth? He answered, "Four dollars," I think is what they are selling at. I paid the money and he departed, and that was all the money on the debit side of the $10,000.00. The same was published as stated in the Georgian. I returned to Atlanta with the last car of provisions and when I alighted from the car the hospital convalescents actually carried me on their shoulders and would not let me walk. Dr. Crawford looked on me in wonder when I returned my account and gave him back the $10,000.00 minus $4.00, and said, Well that gives me money to fix up my hospital as it should be. He bought sheets and mattresses and had the hospital renovated and made as comfortable as money could make it. Under Dr. Crawford's treatment I again became strong and the paroxysms of pain gradually gave way and became less frequent until I really considered that I was a well man again.

CHAPTER XXI

My cousin in Macon gave a little social entertainment and sent me an invitation. I showed the same to the Doctor, and he said, Well go, I give you 48 hours. The following morning I hurried to the Quartermaster with my furlough for transportation by placing my permission on his desk. The train just blew the signal for departure; I picked up the transportation and in my hurry left my furlough on the desk. Between Atlanta and Griffin the guards passed through the coaches to inspect all papers of the passengers. When they came to me I found my transportation in my side pocket minus my forty-eight hours leave of absence. I explained how it might have happened, and hoped they would let me continue, but I was requested to get off at Griffin, which I did, and asked the guard to conduct me to the Provost Marshal, so that I might explain, and he could inform himself, never doubting but that he would wire and inform himself of the correctness of my statement and let me proceed. Instead, he told me he had heard such statements before and informed the guard to be especially vigilant in regard to me, so I was conducted to an old livery stable that served as a prison. This was in Dec. 1863. I spoke to my guard if there was not a way by which I could communicate with Dr. Crawford in Atlanta; he said he did not know. I said, Please tell the Provost to write to Dr. Crawford about me. Presently one of the guards brought me a broom, saying, It is a rule when a new comer comes to make him sweep out the calaboose. I said, Well this time you will have to break your rule. Do I understand that you refuse to comply? I certainly do. He went to the Sergt. of the Guard and made his report as to what passed between us. The Sergt. came at once, saying I understand you refuse to sweep out the calaboose. I certainly do; is it for this which I am arrested? He said, Do you know the penalty, sir? No, and I don't care, was my reply. He remarked, You'll be bucked and gagged for two hours. I again said, "You'll have a nice time doing it." He answered. Not so much talk; pull off your overcoat. I said, If I do I'll make you feel sorry for it. All this occurred while I was standing before the fire place, with my hands behind me. In front of me about five feet distance, stood a wooden bench. The Sergeant stood between me and it. Calling for the guard to come up, they asked him if they should bring their guns. He said no, only one bring his gun. They came up. When the Sergeant put his hand on me as if to unbutton my coat. I had moistened the knuckles of my fingers by passing them between my lips, concentrated the muscles' tension and struck the Sergeant over the bridge of his nose, sending him sprawling backward over the bench, his head hitting the pavement, and I had to dodge to avoid his heels hitting me under the chin. The man who had the musket made a lunge at me. Fortunately I had a memorandum book in my side pocket which he hit and dented the leaves of it half way through. I grabbed at the gun and caught it just at the curve of the bayonet, close to the muscle, and jerked it out of his hands. I made moulinets, holding the gun by the barrel and bayonet, and drove the whole guard, consisting of twelve men, before me. One of them stopped at the rack, close to the door, which was open, to reach for a gun, when I hit him with the butt end on the arm, just below the shoulder, and sent him to the ground, falling as he went in the middle of the street. The exit of the men out of the guard house was so hasty it attracted the attention of the populace so that in a very short space of time a crowd had assembled before the door, looking askance as to what had happened, among which was a Lieut. Colonel, judging from the ensign he wore. Advancing to me, who stood quietly at the entrance, at parade rest, he, undoubtedly thinking that I was the sentinel, asked me what was the matter, what are the casualties. I simply remarked, Nobody hurt on my side, Colonel. What is all this assemblage here doing? So I explained to him what had happened and the cause of it. He asked me where were the guards. I pointed out some of them in the crowd; they gradually approached. He asked some of them to lead him to the Provost Marshal, whose name was Capt. Willis, which gentleman (pardon the expression) he berated to the utmost, telling him that he was not fit for a hog herder much less to be in command of human beings, who ever heard of bucking and gagging in the Confederate Army. I am going to report you to the proper authorities, and he ordered him to send me back to Atlanta by the next train, so that I might prove my assertion. The train from Macon to Atlanta was due within half an hour, so I was sent back under guard of a Lieutenant and four men with loaded muskets, with orders to shoot should I make an effort to escape. Luckily in my school days, which were close to an army post, I went twice a week to the armory to take lessons in boxing and sword exercise, and while I do not profess to be an expert in those sciences, they served me tolerably well in the above stated instance, and others through which it has been my misfortune to pass. Arriving in Atlanta, I was conducted to the Provost Marshal. The Lieutenant in command of the guard handed him a letter which the Provost read, after which he looked at me, standing in the middle of the room, and said, Well Lieutenant, I'll take charge of the prisoner; you can go back by the next train. The Lieutenant saluted him and he and his guard departed. It was between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. There were two more men at the office at their desks, and they soon left the room, leaving me and the Provost by ourselves. Turning to me he said, You belong to Walker's Brigade? I said, Yes, Howell's Battery. He said, Well I thought I knew you. He said, Well you got in a h–l of a scrape. I answered that I did not know that a man losing his furlough was so criminal. He looked up at me in surprise, saying, This is not what you are charged with; you are charged with striking a superior officer; do you know the penalty? Yes, shot if found guilty. What did you do it for? About that time I had been eyeing my questioner all along, I thought I knew him but I could not place him. He was Capt. Beebee of a South Carolina Regiment. I answered him thus, "Well, Captain, I fought for the rights of the Confederacy for the last three years and thought five minutes for myself was not too much." I explained to him all of the circumstances leading to my present condition. He exclaimed, "My God, why did you not kill him?" I said I did my best, I only got one lick at him and I give him a good one. He said Go over to the quartermaster's and see if you find your papers; if not I will give you some that will carry you through. I ran across the street, asking the quartermaster if I did not leave my furlough on his desk that morning. He opened a drawer and handed me my paper. I thanked him and reported my find to Capt. Beebee, who said, I know you are alright, you can go. We shook hands and I went my way to the fair ground hospital for the night to make a new start in the morning. Dr. Crawford seeing me said, I thought you had gone to Macon. I answered that I had gone a part of the way and was brought back under guards. How was that? So I recounted to him all the circumstances and illustrated with a musket the picture of the guard getting out of my reach. Dr. Crawford laughed till he cried. Well you had a time of it, said he. I sure did, and half of my permit is out. He said, Well go and stay as long as you like it, but not too long. He wrote me another permit and I again made for the train leading to Macon. This time the guard did not come aboard inspecting papers, but the train on arriving at Griffin was entered by the guards and papers were shown. I was sitting by the window of my coach when I heard some one say "Sergt. there is the fellow, the same fellow," pointing at me. I had not noticed the Sergt. at first as I was looking above and beyond him, and I saw him standing right close beside the train, in front of the window. I put out my head to speak to him; he had a bandage around his forehead and both of his eyes were inflamed and discolored. I said to him, Sergt. are you hurt? He did not reply, so I said, I am sorry for you, the next time you want to have some fun in the bucking, gagging line you try some one else who likes that kind of sport better than I do. The train departed and nobody even looked at my papers that day. I arrived at Macon a day after the feast, but had a pleasant day anyhow.