Civil War letters at Middlebury College

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For an hour they held us but soon the command was given charge! boys, charge! and with wild yells of triumph our boys fell upon them and a complete rout + paree was made in the rebels , guns and equipments Haversacks, [blunkets?] and every thing that would impede this escape was scattered in evey direction - what I have said of this running will not apply to them all for this Brigade took in over three hundred prisoners- these were exciting times a total rout of the enemy and we following them up on a run stumbling over the dead and wounded [?] victory was ours + a shout on every tongue- we followed them untill nightfall and returned to the top of the mountain and camped for the night and I made my bed on a pile of stones this whole ridge is covered with small stone from the size of a mans head down to a hickory nut and on these I made my bed but sleep I did not as it was awful cold The next morning was occupied in burying the dead the wounded had been removed the night before both ours + rebel The losses in which our Brigade took a part were very surprising to me; the enemy were under cover of their work and our men exposed + our loss was only four killed + [twenty?] wounded while I counted twenty five of the enemy killed

6 under arms and quietly moving to the support of our pickets but only a few more shots are returned + everything is quiet again - a squad of cavalry had rode up to our lines fired a few shots and retired and we retired and finished our nap with no more alarms that night The following morning we expected our Brigade would have the advance + this Regt the advance of the Brigade but a Div of the 15" Corps came up and ws entitled to it so that we were stuck in the rear again but it proved a very fortunate thing for us - As it proved we had camped only three miles from Ringold and about 10 oclock skirmishing began in the front and we were able to see which gradually deferred into a fight and we were hurried rapidly forward The Div in our advance had began what appeared to us to be a severe job It promised to be but a repetition of what done at Missionary Ridge on the left + center; the location of the ground was similar + the disposition of their forces such as to give them every advantage this force appeared small but the advantage of position was worth more than men The fight now conducted on our side of Brig Gen Osterhaus with his division only - The Rebs had three pires of artillery but were not of much use to them The mode of attack and the

manner of conducting this battle has been disapproved by almost every one who saw it - to attack our enemy in front where the men are in an open field and the enemy under cover of a dense thicket and to charge up a ravine exposed to an enfilading fire and from both flanks would not been to indicate good Generalship when flank movements were practicable and promised the same results with little or no loss We were placed in position supporting the first line but did not discharge a gun; the fight lasted for upwards of three hours and our loss was severe - over five hundred killed + wounded - the last hour of the battle I lost for I laid down on the ground and with th music of eight pieces of artillery (five or ours having arrived and joined in the engagement ) and four thousand Infantry I fell asleep and when I awoke the enemy had gone and quiet was restored Eighteen months ago I should have considered it poor music to sleep to but overtasked nature and a constant presence with danger changes a man wonderfully The Rebels left here a large quantity of corn which was fed to loyal stack during our stay at this place- the town was entirely deserted except some cripples and a few women + children some of which followed us on our return

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At four oclock on the day of the battle this Brigade was sent out in the direction the 7 baty took on this retreat + I gathered the objects of the movement before we started which were to capture a train of wagons that had become delayed but we were to late and we found the enemy in considerable force and it was thought advisable to keep out of the scrape but remained occupying the position we had taken until after dark we then built fires as if going to camp and with drew

We remained at Ringold until the afternoon of Nov 30th in the meantime the railroad track had been torn up + the rails bent or destroyed by fire and every bridge Railroad or wagon in the vicinity had been burnt and this afternoon [ (30th) ?]we moved out in the direction of the Chicamauga battle ground + camped for the night in that vicinity and the following morning assisted at the interment of the unburied gallant dead that fell on this memorable field:- a greater piece of inhumanity was never perpe-trated than by Bragg in his treatment of those who fell at the battle of Chicamauga - The sight was a fearful, a ghastly one - our men by the hundreds lie scattered over the field all stripped of their shoes and many of their clothing- Some they pretended to bury but all they did was to throw a little dirt over them as they lay on top of the ground and the sight is now more hideous

then if they had remained untouched for the rains have washed the dirt away and leaves an arm a leg a skull and often half the body exposed I conversed with some woman who lived near by who said they wanted to buy them but Bragg threatened to shoot every man he caught performing such a deed I will here relate what is well vouched for but I saw no evidences of it The citizens assert as a positive fact that after the battle of Chicamauga that the ladies from Ringold and some from the neighborhood held a Pick Nick on the battle ground and that they severed the heads from some of the dead union soldiers + carried them round on poles others they fasten to the trees + stumps Brig Gen Cruft at that time commanding our Division states this as a fact + I cannot doubt it for it was corroberated by many of the citizens This mournful task accomplished we took up the line of march for Chattanooga and camped near that place for the night and Dec 2d reached our present camp our starting point for the battle I fear that my account of this campaign can afford you but little satisfaction other than as a record of my thoughts and feelings I have had to write it amid a pressure of business and a little at a time and I know it is poorly composed but you will understand the reasons + I shall send it without an erasure I will write to you all soon in the meantime write to your P.S. send this to Ephraim for the folks at home as I will not have time to copy it { Ever loving O L

Head Qrs 75th Ill Vol Nashville Tenn Dec 9th 1864 Dearest Lydia I have neglected my correspondence with you or rather I have been so busy that I have realy had no time to write + I have to steal from the hours of sleep to write this but I feel that I must do it + can perhaps write nothing better than from my memorandum from the time I left Pulaski The 23d of November we had orders to march at noon we had hoped to remain there for the winter but it soon became evident that Hood was making by us for some more northerly front which made it necessary to concentrate our lines + as I have said the 23d we received orders to march This Brigade wsa detached for rear guard + to the 73th was assigned the special duty of destroying all stoves that could not be removed quite an amount of stoves had accumulated + the cars were running all day + then were unable to remove it all after the trains had all left we began the work of destruction

and first on some rations + sannitary stoves consisting of twenty or thirty barrels of onion five or six of pickles + as many of sour craut which was burnt + otherwise destroyed after supplying ourselves with all we wanted: we then found 12 barrels of Ale the heads were at once brokeb in + after giving each man all he could drink the remainder was emptied on the ground we now returned to the Court house in the center of the town; all other forces having withdrawn left us masters of the city Our orders were to search the house for a supply of salt that was somewhere in the city we soon found 75 barrels which was rolled into the street + burnt this accomplished I took three companies + picketed the streets in the direction of the enemy while the Col guaranteed the Regt in the court house the Col + myself taking lodgings at the Tennessee House where we found a fine old lady with her two daughters anxious to minister to our temporal wants- Night now closed in upon us + I am inclined to think that company commanders did not keep their men in very close quarters for sundry sutters storekeepers + others who had accumulated goods here + could not get them away came to grief very suddenly whole cheeses by

the dozzen boots shoes coats overcoats + tobaco + cigars by the wholesale together with almost everything a sutter keeps was soon transferred to the pockets + knapsacks of the 75th but little opposition was made to this transfer of property + in most cases it was given out to the boys willingly as they had no means of taking it away + must be abandoned to the Rebs + citizens as soon as we left fifty + over a hundred dollars was realized by some from property taken in this way In the meantime some three hundred thousand rouds of fixed ammunition that could not be removed was deposited in the streets + at 11 oclock the hour having arrived for us to evacuate I recalled the pickets + as the Regt marched away we fired the ammunition which gave first the few scattering shots as if skirmishing which gradually increased until it swelled into the full volume of a well contested fight but of course without the accompanying horrors of the real battle field we continued as rear guard marching until daylight without halting + then not long enough to make coffee the march was continued through the day annoyed by continued checks of the train + arrivell at Columbia at 8 oclock in the evening and bivouacked in the mud but thirty six hours without

sleep + twenty without food or coffee put us in a condition to find no fault with the accomodations if they would but let us be quiet at this time had not made a more fatiguing march thirty three miles without food --- or coffee is seldom made but tiresome as it was there were many things that seemed to amuse us connected with this days march about one thousand contrabands had gathered into Pulaski + joined a motley group comprising all the colors shapes + stripes of Ethiopian sons + daughters from the infant in army to the venerable line with head bleached by the frosts of a century all bound for that sweet land the land of their freedom Alas! thought I to how many will it prove a blessing the amount of suffering in store for the most of these poor unfortunates is incalculable + it is a wise provision that they have been endowed with patience + long suffering to an eminent degree 25th In the morning we were put in position in the subburbs of the town facing south east where substantial works were at once made and here everything seemed to indicate a degree of good fortune

sheet 2 for the Hd Qrs of this Regt that in its past history had not been equalled our Hd qrs were made in a house nearby + the lady kindly placed her parlor + bedrooms at our disposal + we promised ourselves a capital nights rest but "theres many a slip twixt the cup + the lip" The Maj had joined us here just from home + while regaling ourselves upon the luxuries he had best with him + socially chatting of things present past + to come an aide entered with "prepare to move out at once + away we go to the other side of the town one + a half miles + camped for the night in the mud + rain with the wind blowing hard - this part of the line had been fighting through the day + were hard pressed - such is the life of the soldier there is but a moment from the grave to the gay or from the lively to the pathetic + tragic We remained at this place until the night of the 27th reeching works but no fighting was done except on the skirmish line where we had one man wounded The night of the 27th in common with the whole army crossed to this side of the river the rear guard destroying what stoves could not be taken away