A History Of The Trials And Hardships Of The Twenty-Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry

A History of the Trials and Hard- ships of the Twenty-Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry

1913 Indianapolis Printing Co. Printers...

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PREFACE.

This history is based on my pocket memorandum which I kept during the late Civil War, 1861-1865. Richard J. Fulfer....

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CORPS COMMANDERS OF OUR REGIMENT.

General Fremont. U. S. Grant. N. P. Banks. E. S. Canby. W. T. Sherman. DIVISION OFFICERS. General Pope. Lew Wallace. A. P. Hovey. General McClernard. E. O. C. Ord. C. C. Andrews. REGIMENT OFFICERS. Colonel A. P. Hovey. Lieutenant Colonel Gurber. Major C. C. Hines. Colonel William T. Spicely. Lieutenant Colonel R. F. Barter. Major John F. Grill....

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OFFICERS OF COMPANY A.

Captain—Hugh Erwin. First Lieutenant—George Sheaks. Second Lieutenant—H. F. Braxton (resigned). J. L. Cain. First Sergeant—Richard F. Cleveland. (Non-commissioned.) Second Sergeant—John East. (Non-commissioned.) Third Sergeant—Francis M. Jolley. (Non-commissioned.) Fourth Sergeant—Henry B. East. (Non-commissioned.) Fifth Sergeant—Van B. Kelley. (Non-commissioned.) First Corporal—Josiah Botkin. (Non-commissioned.) Second Corporal—Chas. H. Dunnihue. (Non-commissioned.) Third Corporal—J. N. Wright.

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PRIVATES OF COMPANY A.

Arms, Thomas R. Bartlett, Haines. Blevins, Willoughby. Busic, William S. Clark, John C. Clark, William G. Cole, William C. Coward, Joel. Coward, James. Collins, James W. Conley, David. Cox, Andrew. Crow, Walter S. Douglass, Edgar L. Edwards, William. Enness, Charles. Erwin, Jarred. Fulfer, Richard J. Fullen, John. George, Andrew J. Harvey, James. Hamer, Henry. Hamer, George. Hostetler, Samuel. Harbaugh, Benjamin F. Higginbotham, David D. Gross, James A. Gross, Wm. C. Jolly, George W. Keedy, Will

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DECEASED AND DISCHARGED OF COMPANY A.

Pruitt, David R. Pace, David. Walker, Lewis. Bearley, William T. Melvin, Ezekiel M. Clark, Francis M. Harvey, Robert. Landrom, Archie. Dodd, John S. Watson, Thomas. Deceased— Discharged— Dalton, James R. Hostetter, John W. Keithley, Jesse. Mitchell, Isaac. Rudyard, Jeremiah. Stogell, Hamilton R. Helton, Pleasant. Williams, Solomon. Low, John C. Andrews, James T. Miller, William. Harvey, Bird. Landreth, William H. The places at which the different companies were made up:...

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CHAPTER I.

The Twenty-fourth Indiana regiment was one of the first called for as three years’ volunteers. We were enrolled on the 9th day of July, 1861, to serve for three years, if not sooner discharged. We were mustered into service July 31st, 1861, at Camp Knox, which is near Vincennes, Indiana. Our first camp life after being enrolled was a new mode of living and sport. Some of the boys had never been very far from our homes, and were not posted in the pranks and tricks of the times, even in those earl

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CHAPTER II.

September 16th, 1861, we got marching orders, struck tents, and boarded a steamboat which carried us to St. Louis. We left the boat and while marching up Main street on our way to the Union station was the first charge which the old Twenty-fourth struck. Drums and fifes were playing when four large gray horses drawing a big delivery wagon collided with the head of our column, knocking it east and west. Several of our boys were slightly bruised, but they were more frightened than injured. In this

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CHAPTER III.

We boarded a train and went to Tipton, which was twenty miles distant. Here, on the 19th, we drew uniforms. On the morning of the 21st we received marching orders, struck tents, packed our knapsacks and marched in the direction of Springfield, which is south of this place. At the end of a fifteen-mile march we halted and went into camp. On the morning of the 2d we continued our march. At 4 o’clock we came to a halt and went into camp in a little black-oak grove. Our feet were blistered from marc

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CHAPTER IV.

We pitched tents at Tipton and went into camp for a few days rest. The weather was getting somewhat cold, making our camp life somewhat disagreeable. We stayed here until the morning of the 27th, when we struck tents and marched to Syracuse. Here we went into camp and stayed until the morning of the 29th, at which time we got orders to march back to Tipton again. We were getting tired of running around so much, and having no fighting to do, as we had been promised that we would put down the rebe

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CHAPTER V.

Friday, February 7th, 1862, we received marching orders, struck tents, and marched as far as Syracuse. On the 8th we marched through Tipton and on the evening of the 10th we went into camp near Jefferson City. We stayed in this camp until the 13th, when we went to town. Here a part of the regiment had quarters in the State House and the rest were in a large church house. The weather at this date was below zero and there was plenty of snow on the ground. We had marched about eighty miles, over a

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CHAPTER VI.

Between sundown and dark our division, under Wallace, slipped in between the lines of the rebel and union forces, while our gunboats constantly threw shells over into the rebel ranks. All during the night, under this same protection, Nelson’s forces were being brought across the river, and General Buell’s army was coming up the river from Savannah, as reinforcements. These two forces numbered 35,000. The union force outnumbered that of the confederates then by 17,000. That night the rebels drew

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CHAPTER VII.

July 7th, we marched as far as Clarenden, a distance of ten miles. We crossed the river and went into camp in the town. We remained here until the evening of the 9th. We got a dispatch that Curtis’ army had made its way through to Helena. We embarked on boats and at night ran back down the river. Our boat ran on to a snag and almost sank, but we got it off and repaired after quite a lot of work. On the 14th we landed at Helena again. We found General Curtis’ command here. They had had a hard tim

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CHAPTER VIII.

April 9th, we received marching orders which were read to us at dress parade. On the evening of the 10th we struck tents, marched on to the boats, and went down the river four miles. Here we joined General Quinby’s division. General Hovey was now in command of our division. On the morning of the 12th, our squadron moved on down the river. We went past Napoleon at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. On the morning of the 13th, we ran past Lake Providence, Louisiana. We landed at Millikin’s Bend at 12 o’c

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CHAPTER IX.

On the morning of the 16th of May, 1863, a day long to be remembered by some of us. We were called into line at an early hour, but some time elapsed before the plan of the march was decided upon by the generals. Finally Osterhos and Carr moved by the way of Raymond, and Hovey and Logan by the way of Champion Hill. General Quinby was in the rear guarding the trains. After we had advanced a few miles we met some straggling rebels who reported that the rebels were in full force on the Raymond Road,

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CHAPTER X.

On the 20th, our troops had had a hard little fight but were repulsed by the rebels, after they had charged up close to the strong rebel forts. On the 21st we moved up near our advance lines and on the 22nd a general charge all along the lines was ordered. Our regiment supported the 7th Kentucky. Several of our regiments in front had planted their flags on the rebel forts and the destruction of men was horrible. The earth trembled under the powerful explosives. Many of our boys were slain in han

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THE SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG.

From the History of D. H. Montgomery. On the Mississippi, Vicksburg and vicinity was held by a strong Confederate force under General Pemberton. Early in the spring of 1863, General J. E. Johnson, then at Chattanooga, Tennessee, moved with an army to join Pemberton. In a number of masterly battles, Grant defeated Pemberton before Johnson could unite with him. He forced Pemberton to retreat into Vicksburg, and drove Johnson off of the field. For several weeks Grant and Sherman, with over seventy

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CHAPTER XI.

At two o’clock in the evening we received marching orders to go to the rear after Johnson’s and Breckenridge’s army. There was a routine of work to do here, such as cleaning up and granting paroles to prisoners, but we had troops enough to see after all of this. On the morning of the 5th, we moved out to Black River, which was twelve miles distant. We had some strong fortifications at this place. We lay here until the morning of the 7th when we moved out in the direction of Jackson. We stopped a

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CHAPTER XII.

Our Vicksburg army was now being bursted up and transported to different departments. The 9th corps had gone East, and on the morning of the 1st of August, 1863 our 2nd brigade marched on the boats and started down the river to join General Banks’ army, or the Department of the Gulf. Port Hudson had fallen two days after the surrender of Vicksburg. The Mississippi was now open for transportation, and its powerful fortresses and blockades were wiped out forever. But the cost had been thousands of

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CHAPTER XIII.

On the morning of the 6th we could see a heavy body of the rebels out on the prairie, near our pickets. We then began building rifle pits on the bank of the bayou. On the 11th we sent a brigade across to draw the rebels into a fight. Our men drove them back to Vermillionville, where they were reinforced. They followed our troops almost in range of our works. We opened up on them with two heavy batteries and they fell back. They were too smart to be drawn into a trap. The loss on both sides was s

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CHAPTER XIV.

On the morning of the 25th we were ordered on board the steamer “Joseph Pierce” and started down the river. We were hailed at Paducah the next morning. A force of rebels under General Forest had charged in and set fire to our commissary stores. The town was a cloud of smoke. They had charged on our fort, which was manned by a few guards, and the invalids. They were repulsed and had fallen back out of town, but they had had enough of it and failed to make the second attack. We lay here until eigh

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CHAPTER XV.

December 24th, 1864, we received marching orders. We got on board a boat and started for Baton Rouge. We arrived there at two o’clock. On the morning of the 25th we got off of the boat and went into camp on our old camp ground. We relieved two regiments from guard duty, whose time had expired, and they started home at two p. m. We had grand review that day. That was a dry Christmas for us, but we kept up a little fun just the same. On the evening of the 29th we received marching orders, struck t

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CHAPTER XVI.

On the morning of April 2d, 1865, we heard heavy cannonading in front. We began marching at eleven o’clock, and when we had gone six miles we came in range of the enemy’s heavy batteries and ironclad gunboats, which lay at Tennsas Bay. We advanced at two p. m., under a heavy rain of shot and shell. We moved up and formed in line of battle with a loss of one man in Company E killed. We now formed our lines around Fort Blakely, one of the strong defenses of Mobile. Our troops were stationed under

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CHAPTER XVII.

On the morning of May 11th, 1865, we received marching orders and at seven a. m. we marched down to the river. We boarded the “Joab Lawrence” and started down the river. On the morning of the 12th we met several transports going after the remainder of our brigade. On the morning of the 13th we landed at the city of Mobile. We marched out three miles, near the Mobile and Atlanta railroad. On the 15th we drew six months’ pay and one installment of bounty. May 18th we received an official report of

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CHAPTER XVIII.

On the 17th, we marched down to the wharf, embarked on the Steamship “J. W. Everman,” to start down the home stretch. We took on six hundred barrels of coal and at one p. m. we ran out of the bay. While getting on board, one of our boys fell overboard. A Dutch teamster, by the name of Oose Yager, pitched a rope to him, and he was lucky enough to get hold of the end of it and Oose hauled away at it, in the meantime bawling out, “Hold to the wope! Hold to the wope!” This afterwards became a by-wor

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