(1866) soldiering on foot and on horseback

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SOLDIERING ON FOOTAND ON

HORSEBACK

DURING THE CIVIL WAR

By

LUTHER WILLIAMHARRIS

Augusta, Illinois


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ILLINOIS STATE

HISTORICAL LIBRARY


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Soldiering on Foot and on Horse-

back During the Civil War

Interesting Experiences During the

War of the Rebellion

---

By

LUTHER WILLIAM HARRISAugusta, Illinois


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AN APPRECIATION.

h. W. Harris was one of the firstmen who sprang to the grasp of theirmusket in the dark hour of 1861 andstayed resolutely to the finish, nevershirking a soldier's duty, nor missinga battle. His loyalty to the principlesof the Grand Army of the Republicsince the war, has been perfect.

The same inherent patriotic impulsethat placed him in the front ranks ofthe hastily gathered fighting force ofthe war, carried him into the first ro-ganization of the noble defender ofthis republic. The roster of the de-partment of Illinois G. A. R. carrieshis name as a delegate to all of itsencampments. And during severalconsecutive years that he was com-mander of Union Post No. 302, at Au-gusta, Illinois, a large per cent ofmembership went with him to the de-partment annual meetings than fromany other Post in the state.

He has been an integral part of theprocession when it numbered over ahundred at the funeral of a comrade,in the village of Augusta, and nevermissed one of these public tributes tothe soldier memory, down to the timewhen as a commander he could onlymuster a half dozen decrepit com-rades able to march to the cemetery.

Himself and his devoted wife neverfail to attend every national encamp-ment of the Grand Army, no matterwhere it is held. He has served onthe staff of national commanders atthese encampments.

Faithful to an eminent degree as asoldier and patriot, few who have de-voted their life work of good citizen-ship to the town of Augusta, 111., areentitled to higher esteem of its people

than Luther W. Harris of Co. B. 7thMo. Cav. and Co. H. 72nd Illinois Inf.

Homer Mead, M. D.,

Augusta, 111.

LUTHER WILLIAM HARRISLuther William Harris was born in

Burlington, Iowa, March 21, 1843.He was the son of William Harrisand Margaret (McClure) Harris. Hisfather was born in Ohio, 1817, and hismother was born in Lexington, Ky.

When a mere child his father diedof cholera at Burlington, Iowa. Mrs.Harris and family moved back nearher old home in McDonough county.

In 1868 Mr. Harris married MaryMcCoy, who passed away April 17,1881. In 1883 Mr. Harris marriedMrs. Jesie (Markee) Mecum. To thisunion two sons were born, Charles andBert Harris. Later they were di-vorced. In 1894, May 6th, Mr. Har-ris married Mrs. Adah (Hickok)Kindred. To this union one daughterwas born, Nellie G. Harris, of Au-gusta, 111.

Mr. Harris moved to Augusta in1894, and has made Augusta his home


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N AUGUST 1, 1861, Ienlisted with CompanyB. Black Hawk cavalry.

^^ E. E. Bredette had beenr, Oi in the Service of U. S.V;s?=^fs^5t Marine Recruits and heorganized a company at Augustacalled Co. B., Black Hawk cavalry,which was mostly made up of Han-cock and Schuyler county boys. Ijoined with the rest of them. Hese-kiah Stout was from Rushville. Hebecame first lieutenant and Robert J.Young was second lieutenant. Cap-tain Bredette was a resident of Au-gusta. His wife was Dr. SamuelMead's daughter, who was one of thefirst settlers.

Captain Bredette took us boys downto Rushville to show us off. We allfelt proud of our new uniforms andcaps. Capt. Bredette rode a finehorse, one he had bought of Nicho-las Myers, and the horse was abeauty. Mr. Myers rode one of hisown horses.

From Rushville we went to War-saw, ni. Here we stayed a few days.Rendezvous at Warsaw, 111., aboutAugust 15. 1861, with William Bishopas Colonel, and Major David McKee,

quartermaster Major Park.In October the regiment was trans-ferred across the river to Alexandria,Mo., whei-e we remained until Novem-ber, then we went to Hannibal byboat. From Hannibal we went "byrailroad to Macon City, Mo. We re-mained here until April, 1862. Thecompany was mounted while at Alex-andria and during the time the com-pany was at Macon City, they werescouting for guerrillas. The companyscouted north to Kirksville, south tothe Missouri river and east to Shelby-ville. About the 20th of December,1861, Co. B. went on scout into Boonecounty, about four miles from thetown of Sturgeon.

On the 21st of December, just afterdaylight, the command surprised theenemy's camp of about four hundredmen, who were just leaving for theirhomes to join the rebel Price's army.This was the first skirmish for Co. B.The enemy escaped, with one killedand three slightly M^ounded. Co. B.had three slightly wounded, who werenamely Brailan Fox, Seely Ketchumand Benjamin Clair. We captured

seventeen prisoners and a large num-ber of rifles and shot guns.

The night previous, the enemy hadcut the telegraph wires and torn upthe Missouri railroads and for thisact sixteen or seventeen were courtma.shaileu, sentenced to be shot, butinstead were sent to Military Prisonat Alton, Illinois.

At this time Co. B. was the onlycompany that was mounted. Wewere sent out scouting often, watchingrailroads and bridges. During thewmter we camped on the fair groundsat Macon City during Christmas week.The first of Februa.y we had quar-ters in a vacant store building. Theregiment not having been recruitedto a full cavalry regiment it was con-solidated with other detachments andbecame the 7th Mo. cavalry. CompanyA., from Iowa, Co. S. B. C. E. G. fromIllinois, and the other seven fromMissouri.

Some time in April, 1862, the regi-ment went to Boonville, Mo., andstayed there a short time scouting.Then we marched to Independence,arriving there sometime in May.Here we did scouting after QuantarlGuerillas. With Co. B. was Co. C.nlso a comnany from Missouri miP.-tia comprising a command of about250 men, under command of Lieuten-a. t Bnell a regular army officer.

While at Independence we were inthe saddle most of the time, afterQuanterl and his gang, who werethought by many people to be bravemen, but in the opinion of the writer,they were desperadoes. These Guer-illas could have had a fight any dayin the week, as fifty or sixty of our

command were out every day. Theycould have fired in our column andthen fled, as they knew e\'e v nath i^the country. Co. B. was on a scoutAvith the militia under their CaptainThomas. While going through thethickest of hazel brushes, someonefired into our ranks and second manin front of Geo. H. Glass fe'l from hissaddle, killed instantly. His namewas Marion Thorp. Those at thehead of the column returned fire and

killed one of the gang.Our camp was attacked by 800 re-bels under General Hughes. The menwere scarely up when th':^ attack wasmade. The location of our camp was


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we got tired of having our camp shotup and our stores blown to pieces,so we slipped out one morning with asmall contingent, captured the cannonand blew it up before the enemy couldsend more men to support their gun-ners, and that finished "WhistlingDick."

On October 30, 1864, we were or-dered to report to Major GeneralHoward, commanding the army anddepartment of Tennessee, then withSherman, Arriving at Nashville,Tenn., we found ourselves too late togo with Sherman to the sea. Wethen joined Major General SchofieldCommander on November 2, at Col-umbia. When Hood crossed the Ten-nessee river we went back to Nash-ville, Tenn.

On November 29th the 72nd was inthe severe battle on Spring Hill, onthe road between Columbia andFranklin. On the next day, in themorning, we arrived from our famousnight hike under cover of darkness.We passed the rebel guard and webeat Hood to Franklin. We hastilythrew up light earthworks and at 4o'clock

Hoodattacked us.

Wefought

from 4 p. m. till 1 a. m. under steadyfire. The battle of Franklin was oneof the most desperate and sanguinarybattles of the civil war. The loss ofmen far exceeded that of any otherbattle.

Franklin is situated on the bend ofthe big Harpeth river, and the line ofdefense selected by General Schofieldwas a half circle, the center guardingthe Columbia Pike, with both ends of

the flanks resting in front of the line,sloped so every part was in front andcould be seen from the works.

The 72nd Infantry was a part of16 corps and had been left in garri-son in lower Mississippi by GeneralThomas, under authority during Sher-man's absence. Later 72nd was at-tached to Strickland Brigade atFrankiln. In the fight at Franklinour company stood at Locust Grove.Here we killed the rebel generalCheatum, just in front of us, also ourcaptain, E. C. Prior, was shot after-wards and died from the wounds.Bill Newcomb. standing at my side,was shot. I helped carry him backout of the battle line. His brother,

Proctor, came after him and took himhome, where he died from gangreneat his home in Pulaski.

At the battle of Franklin the fed-eral center gave away near ColumbiaPike and through the gap came theconfederates. The result of the fightwas a desperate hand to hand fightand at this critical moment a brigadeof federals gallantly charged and re-stored the line, capturing about 700confederate troops within the en-trenchments. An Osage Orangehedge broke the full force of the con-federate charge, as it was hard to getthrough it. The confederates wentdown before the federal's fire likeleaves in the autumn. The battleraged on till after midnight.

From Franklin we marched toNashville, Tenn., arriving on Decem-ber 1. Here we were on the extremeright of the federal lines. We- wereunder A. J. Smith's command in De-cember. The whole union army, withGeneral Grant as commander, unitedall the forces west of the Alleghenymountains under his command. Wenext moved outside of the works togive Hood a battle. The followingday was the great battle of Nashville,on December 15, 1864. The battle ofNashville was one of the most impor-tant battles. When we whipped theRebs, the federals attacked bothflanks of the confederates. The move-ment was particularly successful forthe confederates left were forced ina new position, as the result of theday's fighting. We captured sixteenpieces of artillery, 1200 prisoners,

several 100 stands of arms, and fortywagons. The confederates were hardpressed and were forced to cross theTennessee river.

From January 3, 1865 on, we werein pursuit of Hood's army. He es-caped us by crossing the Tennesseeriver at Clifton. From Clifton wetook boats and went up the Tennesseeriver to Eastport, Miss., arrivingthere January 13, 1865, remaining inquarters until February 9. We tooktrips to luka and Corinth, Miss., butwere not very successful and Febru-ary 9 went to New Orleans and stayedtill in March, when we went to theSpanish fort. In the evening ourregiment was in a siege, the Union


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ILLINOfS STATEHISTORICAL LIBRARy

troops in the front line. The attackbegan about midnight. The first bri-gade, with the 72nd and the third bri-j?ade, sixteenth army corps, chargedon the enemy works, capturing thefort the next morning. We went fromther to Blakley. The divisions wereheld there to help others. At Blak-ley we charged on the rebel's worksand took the place. We then wentinto camp until May 14.

On May 14 we moved towardsMontgomery, Ala. This was a 200-mile march. We stayed until May23: d. While there we did guard andpost duty. While there I did guardduty over the plantation

owned by alady known to us boys as MotherGriswell. She had a large distillery,but she was loyal to her country andflag. The rebels captured her hus-band. He tried to get away, but waskilled by blood hounds. The son wasalso captured, but succeeded in get-ting away, but was badly torn byblood hounds. There was one daugh-ter at home called Mollie Griswell.

We had orders to report at Vicks-burg to be mustered out. We hiredsome men to carry our knap sacks forus. After we were mustered out westarted for the steamer that was tocarry us to Cairo, Our captain said:'the first regiment gets the vessel,"

so we boys hiked it on the railroadtrack, and it wasn't a very easy task,for the ties were so far apart. Ourcolonel went with us. We left at 6a. m., getting there at 6 p. m., a five-mile hike, but with the thoughts ofhome and freedom it gave us lots ofpep. As we n^ared the steamer wesaw the other boys coming down theSu ^^ ^^^"'* ^^^^ t^em much.1 hey had to camp and wait until thenext boat.

We went to Cairo, landed and wentto the Illinois Central railroad stationtor Chicago. Here we received our

discharges on August 7, 1865, andpay. Then we took the train forhome, arriving at Augusta.

Four of us boys were on the train,namely Bill Roads.

Corn Farwell andBill Fairchilds. We stayed that nightwith a lady (widow Lenian), who kepta boarding house where Charles Hes-lep now lives.

We had fought seven battles, elevenskirmishes, travelled 9280 miles, un-der fire 145 days.Number of officers killed 7Number of men killed 78Number of officers died of disease 3Number of men died of disease.... 130Number of officers wounded 10Number of men wounded ...:...: 120Number of officers taken prisoners 3Number of men taken prisoners..- 76

Total :.____. 427Number of officers returning with

regiment 22Number of men returning with

regiment ..._.: ... 310Total _.-._.: 332

Number of officers mustered in 37Number of men mustered in 930

Total 967

Due to the meager data on file,these facts have been very difficultto obtain. I would have been gladfor more enlightment on the topo-graphy of the country.

Due to the scarcity of the soldiersof 1861, I have collected the data frompersonal friends in action, with theaforesaid named soldier.

I wish to express my high regardsand esteem to the cause of humanity,that my father served, also the laterwar veterans.

I wish to thank the contributors,Dr. Homer Mead, Geo. H. Glass andothers, with the biography.

Written by his daughter,Nellie G. Harris.


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(1866) soldiering on foot and on horseback

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