February 11, 2008, 02:33 AM | #276 | ||
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This quote;
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I found this: "The Career of Bastot de Mauléon, Man-at-Arms and Brigand" http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/...rt/mauleon.htm Quote:
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February 16, 2008, 08:30 PM | #277 | |
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The Shrine of Bacchus
Post battle looting can be rewarding - if you find something useful. Here's the story of one cavalryman who struck gold and an artilleryman who struck out.
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February 26, 2008, 12:41 AM | #278 |
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Gen. Enoch's And A. D. Crossland's Experiences
Ironton Register, Thursday, December 2, 1886
"I suppose you have observed that the REGISTER is giving some "Narrow Escapes" of the boys in the war, Gen. Enochs?" "Yes, indeed," said the General, "I read them with a great deal of interest. They are a good thing. They remind me of what Gen. Hayes said to me at Portsmouth, during the reunion. He remarked that the real history of the war has not yet been written; and will not be, until the boys have a chance to tell their personal experiences." "Well now," said the reporter, "that’s just what I am after, a "narrow escape" from you." "Oh, I have none worth relating. I was in a great many battles and met danger with the rest of the boys, but I have no distinctively romantic escape to relate. My narrowest escape was where I didn’t altogether escape. It was at the battle near Winchester, on the 19th of September 1864--Sheridan’s first great battle in the Shenandoah Valley. You remember the engagement began about noon. The 19th corps was on the left; the 6th corps in the center and the Army of West Va. on the right, and my regiment, which I commanded that day, was on the extreme right of the whole line; that is, of the infantry line. Custer’s and Merritt’s divisions of cavalry still covered our flanks." "Well, we had driven the rebel forces gradually from the start; and they were very hard to drive as they fought behind the stone fences which abound in that country. It was on toward five o’clock in the evening, and the rebel lines had been driven back from every point except where the artillery was planted, which was a strong position. Their cannon was doing fearful execution, and the musketry from that quarter was very severe. Gen. Duval, who commanded our brigade, had fallen, and the ranks were much shattered. I had lost my horse in a swamp soon after the fight commenced and so was afoot in the battle. Things were in a turmoil and confusion; nobody seemed to be directing our brigade or division, so I took hold of our end of the line myself, and ordered an assault on the rebel artillery. I thought we wouldn’t be killed any faster going ahead than standing still. Then the enemy opened on us furiously. Our line as it advanced had a very ragged edge to it. It was made up almost without any order as to regiment, a dozen regiments being represented, in some parts of the line." "As we approached the rebel position, I happened, at one moment, to be looking down the line, awfully anxious about its maintaining itself, when my "narrow escape" came to me in the form of a minnie ball, and down I went, to figure, as the comrades around me supposed, among the list of the killed. And I would have thought so too, possibly, if I had not been knocked senseless. There I lay insensible, for some time, but finally regained my thoughts, to find that I couldn’t see. I was blind as a bat for over an hour; but during that little period, I felt about to ascertain the extent of my wound, and found a ball sticking in the side of my head about two inches above the right ear. It had gone through my hat band and flattened against the skull, which it bruised badly, and to which it stuck until I pulled it off. The first man who discovered I wasn’t dead was Lewis Neff, of Rome township, who gave me a drink from his canteen." "That was indeed, a very close shave," said the reporter, "but what of the charge on the artillery?" "Oh, that was the best part about it," said the General--"the boys went right on, and captured the rebel works; and that did as much as any other one thing that day to give us the victory. The next day, I was all right and took command of my regiment again." "Where’s the ball?" asked the reporter. "I carried it for a couple years after, but finally lost it," replied the General; "but I can recollect everything about that fight without the ball as a reminder. It struck me too forcibly to ever be forgotten." |
March 1, 2008, 11:27 AM | #279 |
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Mayor Corns' Experience #1
NARROW ESCAPES
SOME EXCITING WAR EXPERIENCES NO. 1 MAYOR CORNS' EXPERIENCE Ironton Register, Thursday, November 18, 1886 [Under the above head we propose to publish a series of articles, or rather interviews with old soldiers, giving details of narrow escapes while in the service. We well print them as long as the boys keep us posted with startling personal experiences or our interviewer can gather them in.-- Ed. Reg.] "What was your ‘narrow escape’ in the army?" we asked of Mayor Corns, of the old Second Va. Cavalry, as he stood smoking his morning stoga, before the big cannon stove of his office, last Monday. "Oh, I had several that I thought was pretty narrow-- narrow enough to make my flesh creep when I even think of them now." "But," said we, "what was the little the worst fix you got into while serving Uncle Sam?" "Well, sir, about the worst fix," replied the Mayor, and he laughed and shuddered at the same time, "was when our division under Custer attacked Fitzhugh Lee, on the evening after the battle of Sailor’s Creek-- that was the 7th of April, 1865, two days before the surrender at Appomatox. Lee was trying to get off with a big wagon train, and Custer had orders to intercept him and capture the train if possible. Just at nightfall, we caught up with Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry, down there not very far from Farmville. The enemy had gone into camp for the night. They were in the woods and had thrown up piles of rails as a protection against attack. We had a heavy line of skirmishes which were soon driven in, and then, having discovered the enemy’s line, Custer ordered a general charge. There were about 7000 cavalry and we went in with a rush, but after a bitter little fight we were repulsed. We ran into a ditch or drain in the charge and that upset our calculations. We piled into that ditch with considerable confusion and were glad to get out, without bringing any rebs with us. Our lines were soon reformed and another charge sounded. It was then after dark, but the moon was shining brightly. It was an open meadow over which we charged, and save the drain, was a pretty place for a cavalry fight, for those who liked that kind of business." "After the charge was sounded and we were on full gallop, lo and behold the enemy was charging too, and the two divisions of cavalry met in a hand to hand fight in the middle of the plain. It was an awfully mixed up affair. We couldn’t tell friend from foe half the time. We had been on the go so much that our blue uniforms were dust-colored and about as gray as the rebels’. It was the biggest free fight ever I got into, and every fellow whacked away and tried to kill every fellow he came to. It happened, however, that I got in with a little squad of six or eight of our boys, and we kept together until we found ourselves completely within the enemy’s lines, with the rebs’ banging away all around us. Our army was getting the best of the fight, and gradually pushing the rebs back, and of course we went back with the rebel line. It looked scaly for us. I saw Johnny Connelly near me and said to him, "This is a bad fix--we must get cut of this." And he said, "Yes, and here are five or six others of us right near." I got them together, for I was a Lieutenant commanding a company, and said, "Boys, we must charge to the rear and join our army," and one of the boys said, "Here goes," and started, and we were all about to put after him, but just as I started, a reb who was just in front of me, and who I thought was one of our boys, whirled around and, drawing his saber, called out, "Surrender, you d----d Yankee," at the same time bringing the saber down toward my head with fearful velocity. I dodged and the saber struck my shoulder, but did not cut the flesh as I had on an overcoat with a bear-skin collar. The blade went right through these, but stopped at the flesh, but it paralyzed my arm, which fell to my side. He did it so quickly that I had no time to parry. But missing my head, he quickly drew his saber for another stroke, and I would have got it the next time clean through my head, but just as the reb had the saber at its full height for another blow, a First N. Y. Cavalryman struck his carbine right against the fellow’s head, and exclaiming "Not this time, Johnny," blazed away and shot the reb.’s head just about off. Then we scampered to the rear, but hadn’t gone far when we got into the ragged edge of our own line and felt ourselves considerably safer. In getting out of there, three balls struck me, but I consider the narrowest escape, was when that New York Cavalryman stuck his carbine at the reb’s head and presented the blow which would have gone right through my head, as sure as fate. The narrowness of the escape was intensified by the fact that the war only lasted two days longer." "Before we got out of there, Johnny Connelly was shot crazy, but I snatched his horse’s rein and got him within our lines. He was sent back to the field hospital and I never saw him since; but if ever I come across that N. Y. Cavalryman, I’ll take him home, set him down in the best rocking chair in the front parlor, and feed him on mince pie and roast turkey as long as he lives." "Well, we drove Fitzhugh Lee back, captured his camp, and got a great many prisoners, a large proportion of whom were drunk. We found applejack by the bucketfuls all through the camp, but we were not allowed to touch a drop, though my arm hurt me terribly bad." "Well, Mr. Corns, that was a ‘narrow escape.’" "Narrow! Well, I should say so, and I sometimes have to feel up there to be sure my head ain’t split in two yet." |
March 4, 2008, 09:30 PM | #280 | |
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Rabbit Hunt
The following is a tale of a rabbit hunt by an artillery unit that went wrong.
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March 12, 2008, 10:04 PM | #281 | |
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Buffalo hunt. Use a gun - all the time.
The following account is from an eyewitness. It's a rather slim book, but took me several nights to read as it had to be read aloud to be understood. The spelling is the author's and the editor choose to leave it as it was. He did insert in brackets some corrections so we can understand this account of a man almost killed by a buffalo.
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March 23, 2008, 11:58 AM | #282 | |
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To catch a thief.
Here's how one victim outwitted his suspect.
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March 29, 2008, 07:44 PM | #283 |
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bayonet duel
At the siege of Petersburg, one bored private, Michael DeLacy, of the Irish 63rd New York challenged the rebs. "Say Johnnies? You are a low lived lot of spalpeens. You face the Yankees in the open and we'll knock the devil out of yees. We can lick yees every time." Insulted by DeLacy's incessant taunts, a temporary truce was arranged between the two sides. Men climbed out from their trenches and rifle pits to watch as each side's champion met with fixed bayonet in no-man's land. The plucky DeLacy would either be struck down as a braggart or emerge as a victor crowned with glory. The Confederate thrusted and DeLacy ducked. He riposted with a butt stroke which struck the Confederate's chin, knocking him to the ground. Planting his foot atop the hapless Confederate's chest, DeLacy stood menancing over him with his bayonet ready to plunge into his foeman. Having made his point, DeLacy lowered his bayonet and allowed the fallen man to rise. Men on both sides cheered as DeLacy returned to his side.
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May 8, 2008, 05:42 PM | #284 | |
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Here's a tale from our frontier days.
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May 10, 2008, 08:43 AM | #285 | |
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Tough frontier woman.
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July 2, 2008, 08:24 PM | #286 | |
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Turkey, it's what for dinner tonight.
I've been reading some modern things (Lucinda Frank's My Father's Secret War which is a great read but I think there are some mistakes, some WW II aviation books) as well as Civil War material. The last two books didn't produce anything of interest but that's the price of research. It's a hit or miss proposition. Anyway, here's a little gem from a book that I'm currently reading.
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July 5, 2008, 11:28 AM | #287 | |
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Mothers, don't let your daughters go out like this.
One Union regiment in Virginia had rounded up some civilian males as prisoners.
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July 5, 2008, 03:29 PM | #288 | ||
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My man Friday
OK, this is not the story of a faithful sidekick. Rather, its an amusing response and excuse for skedaddling. This is told by a Union soldier at that ill fated battle at Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862).
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July 7, 2008, 08:34 PM | #289 | |
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Tuck in and a kiss
Well, not quite a tuck in and certainly not a kiss from one's loving parents. Here's a story of a lieutenant who had one drunk in his company.
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July 7, 2008, 08:38 PM | #290 | |
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Meet Col. Frank Wolford, 1st Kentucky Cavalry (Union)
Now here's a man we could follow.
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July 7, 2008, 08:43 PM | #291 | |
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Top heavy?
As many know, in 1863 the War Department became worried that many veteran soldiers' three years term of enlistment were about to expire and that the army would suddenly lose a large core of experienced men. To entice them to re-enlist for another three years, they appealed to their patriotism and offered re-enlistment bonuses of up to $400 plus any additional amount their state and local government may offer. Perhaps the most appealing thing was a thirty day furlough to anyone who re-enlisted. Those who re-enlisted were sent home.
In one company, it was pretty bad and a lot of men were transferred out. This reduced one company to one lieutenant and four privates. The lieutenant almost immediately promoted the most promising and intelligent man to sergeant. The regiment had a dress parade. Quote:
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July 8, 2008, 07:16 PM | #292 | ||
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Two different views of Union veteran soldiers in the Civil War period
First, the polite perspective from one soldier:
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July 9, 2008, 09:37 AM | #293 | |
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The Baker Man
Armed robbery by a Civil War soldier.
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July 15, 2008, 07:22 PM | #294 | |
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Have a nice trip! or Bring a flashlight.
Nightime searches for hiding Confederates were not uncommon. One southern belle whose husband was an engineer in the Southern service recalled one such search.
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August 25, 2008, 08:42 PM | #295 |
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A Southern soldier's letter to his sister
I've slowed down my reading a bit and while on vacation, took three WW II aviation books with me. Right now I'm reading Joe Glatthaar's, "General Lee's Army."
In invading Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg campaign, one Corn-fed artillerist described his observations to his sister: "We passed through some of the prettiest country that I ever saw in my life they has [some] of the finest land in the world and some of the ugliest women that I ever saw." Another Confederate wrote, "Sister I will Give you a description of the Girls in pensylvania thay are all nothing but Dutch and Irish and the durty and Sturnest menest lookig Creaturs that I ever saw to Call them selves white Girls." He added, "them is the Girls that is writing to their husbands and Sweeheearts and brothers to fight on and restore the union." Not to start a fight about which part of the nation has prettier women, but some Union soldiers had quite a number of comments about Southern women. I got this from Irving Bell Wiley's, Life of Billy Yank. For instance, "They look more like polls than any thing else," and another wrote, "The women here are shaped like a lath, nasty, slab-sided, long haired specimins of humanity. I would as soon kiss a dried codfish as one of them." Even worse was this comment, "sharp-nosed, tobacco-chewing, snuff-urbbing, flax-headed, hatchet-faced, yellow-eyed, sallow-skinned, cotton-dressed, flat-breasted, bare-headed, long-waisted, hump-shouldered, stoop-necked, big-footed, straddle-toed, sharp-shinned, thin-lipped, pale-faced, latern-jawed, silly-looking damsels." More generous and perhaps more generous was, "Thar is Som durnde good looking girls in the Soth." Another impressed northerner said there were, "Squads of 'em (some confounded good looking ones, too) were on dress parade." Lesson: beauty is in the eyes o' the beholder.
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August 31, 2008, 11:48 AM | #296 | |
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During the Siege of Vicksburg, some clever Yankees figured out how to dig their approach trench to the Confederate lines without being vulnerable to rifle fire. Traditionally, in digging your zig-zag approach trench, you made a huge wicker sap-roller and pushed that ahead of you. It would stop rifle bullets and you could dig in relative safety. To move it forward, you used levers to roll it and when it moved, it exposed fresh dirt for you to excavate. Instead of using a sap roller (they may not have had the materials or the levers to roll one forward may not be available), the Union soldiers got a rail car and loaded it with cotton bales. Pushing it forward slowly, it allowed them to dig their trench in perfect safety. The Confederates saw it approaching and unable to use their artillery (which was suppressed by Union marksmen), they felt hopeless and morale plummeted - until one Confederate came up with a solution.
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September 1, 2008, 11:43 AM | #297 |
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Found this on another board. It's two amusing tales from the nitro-cellulose days
These stories are worthy of Rambling Anecdotes but are too modern to retell here. Click on this link for two wonderful Payback stories
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September 10, 2008, 08:56 PM | #298 | ||
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Meet Capt. Robert Hanna. Like Col. Frank Wolford (see above), Capt. Hanna of the 72nd Indiana Infantry wasn't much for formality. The 72nd Indiana was part of Wilder's Mounted Infantry. Trained as infantry, most of them learned it was easier to ride a horse or mule than march twenty miles on foot. Being mounted gave them mobility equivalent to a cavalry unit. Additionally, unlike most infantry, they were armed with Spencer seven shot repeater lever action rifles. This gave them firepower that made them equal to twice their number. The combination of mobility and firepower arguably made them the most formidable brigade of any army in the Civil War. They are much lesser known than the Union's Iron Brigade (the famous one of midwesterners) or the Confederate Stonewall Brigade. This is because they fought in the Army of Ohio that became part of Sherman's Army. Capt. Hanna had served in the Fourth Division as General Joseph Reynold's (not to be mistaken for the famous I Corps commander John Reynolds who died leading the Iron Brigade at Gettysburg) provost guard. One member remember a drill conducted by Hanna at Cave City, Kentucky.
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September 19, 2008, 11:47 PM | #299 | |
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Hooker at Chancellorsville
It is generally accepted as fact that the Union army general in charge of the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. Joe Hooker, was leaning against a post when it was struck by a cannonball. Hooker suffered a concussion and was dazed for hours. He refused to relinquish command and the Union army was paralyzed while Lee's smaller army was administering heavy blows. Well, one Union bugler disputes that assertion and here's what he said about Joe Hooker:
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September 21, 2008, 07:59 AM | #300 | ||
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A question from Civil War Society (a yahoo group)
A question was raised as to the bayonet as a combat instrument during the Civil War. I've read numerous accounts, but never paid any attention to them as it was not my area of research. In Isaac Best's "History of the 121st New York State Infantry" he writes about Upton's May 10 attack on the Mule Shoe:
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In another entry we find: Quote:
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