MILITARY: Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-1865 - Chapter 8 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/dornblaser/sabre-strokes.htm ________________________________________________ SABRE STROKES of the PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS in the WAR OF 1861-1865. INTERSPERSED WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES By T. F. DORNBLASER 80 SABRE STROKES. CHAPTER VIII. FORAGING IN CLOSE QUARTERS. IN the latter part of August, Bragg threw his army across the Tennessee; and, by forced marches, accomplished the invasion of Kentucky. Our mounted force was sent to Gallatin to intercept the enemy's advance. The "Seventh" made a gallant sabre-charge on the enemy's cavalry, and drove them through the streets of Gallatin. But not being properly supported on right and left, the enemy threw a heavy force into the rear, and threatened to capture the entire command. A portion of the command surrendered, while the "Seventh" and detachments of the First and Fourth Kentucky cut their way out, and retreated to Nashville in good order. During the first dash into Gallatin, the Adjutant was shot from his horse while riding beside his father, Colonel Wynkoop. Little "Nic" was a brave officer, and the little altercation I had with him made me think all the more seriously concerning his sudden death. He several times had the opportunity to avenge himself against me, but he rather embraced the occasion to do me a kindness. Several times he selected me out of a detail of soldiers, and placed me in command of the rest. PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 81 During the early summer he took a squad of ten men on a night excursion to capture a few guerrillas in the neighborhood of Gallatin. He sent one man with me as an advance guard. Next morning he passed the bottle to all the boys but one, saying in a whisper: "That fellow does not believe in drinking whisky." Only a few days before he was killed he said to me: "D---, I am trying to be a better man." Bragg's advance upon Louisville necessitated the withdrawal of all the available troops from Tennessee. Buell had determined on evacuating Nashville, but Andy Johnson, the war governor, was determined to hold it. He asked for a small force to garrison the city. While this decision was pending, the governor asked the fighting parson, Col. Moody, of the Seventy-fourth Ohio, if he believed in prayer. When the Colonel replied in the affirmative: "Then get down on your knees," said Johnson, "and pray that Nashville may not be given over to the enemy." Both knelt together; Moody prayed with all the fervor that a Methodist preacher can command, and Johnson responded, "Amen!" Lincoln tells the story that Johnson would not acknowledge that he was a praying man, and said to Moody, "I'll be cussed before the rebels get Nashville." 82 SABRE STROKES. The request was granted, and General Negley was assigned to the command of the union forces at Nashville. Two divisions of infantry and one brigade of cavalry constituted the garrison. Bragg had left Breckenridge's corps behind to invest Nashville, and if possible compel a surrender of the town. At once defensive operations began. Forts were built on the most commanding positions. Fortifications were hastily constructed. All the roads leading to the city were strongly barricaded. The handsome State House was barricaded on all sides by cotton bales. So formidable were the defenses of Nashville, that the enemy considered it a useless slaughter to make an assault upon the works. They therefore busied themselves in harrassing our foraging trains. We were dependent on the surrounding country for meat and forage. For sixty days we were cut off from all communication with the North, and completely isolated from the rest of the army. For several weeks the enemy remained very quiet; and, as a consequence, our train escorts became very careless. Wheeler's cavalry had attacked a train on the Murfreesboro pike, and were so handsomely repulsed that it was taken for granted that they would not try it again soon. On the 20th of September, a detail of thirty men was made from the "Seventh" to guard a forage train. My bunk-mate, Oliver Mantle, was on the PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 83 detail; but, owing to ill-health, he requested me to take his place, which I cheerfully consented to do. The train, consisting of twelve wagons and thirty mounted men as an escort, were placed in command of Lieut. Garret. No precaution was taken to have the men well-armed or well-mounted. More than one-third of the men had left their carbines behind. Some had forgotten their sabres and revolvers. Thus imperfectly equipped, we ventured beyond our picket lines. We went out nine miles on the Franklin pike, to Brentwood. Here the road forked. We took the left-hand road and proceeded four miles further, where we found abundance of corn and hay. All was quiet; all was lovely; the wagons were loaded; the boys filled their pockets with apples; the Lieutenant congratulated himself on our good fortune. After giving the owner a government certificate for the corn and hay, he ordered the train to move out toward Nashville. Four of Company "E" were sent forward as an advance-guard. When we neared the town of Brentwood, we met a lady in a carriage. We inquired of her if she knew of any armed guerrillas in the neighborhood. She said, "No." However, that was no evidence that it was true. We advanced within a few hundred yards of the town; the wagons were scattered along for half a mile; the men were still farther in the rear, driving some beef-cattle. The lieutenant in command was eating his dinner at a private house. 84 SABRE STROKES. The advance guard consisted of Nathan Harvey, Parker Allen, Benjamin Motter, and myself. We looked ahead and the streets were clear, but an ominous stillness seemed to overhang the town. The silence was quickly broken by a sharp "yell" in the grove to the left. In an instant one hundred and fifty mounted guerillas dashed into the road in front of us. We held them in check a few minutes by emptying our revolvers into the head of the enemy's column. Harvey was mortally wounded, and was obliged to dismount. The rest of us fell back to the rear of the wagon-train, where we expected to meet the rest of the command and there make a determined stand. The enemy's advance followed close upon our heels; and when I wheeled my horse at the rear of the train, a rebel had his gun leveled upon me. We both fired about the same time. Whether my shot took effect I do not know - but one thing I know, that about that time I felt the sting of four "buck-shot" in my thigh. There was no time to be lost; one minute more, and I must be a prisoner or a dead man. I did not choose to be either. Putting spurs to the horse with my left foot, I dashed to the brow of the hill, where a squad of our men were halting between two opinions. Eight men were rallied at this point: with sabres drawn they determined to charge the enemy and recapture the wagons, but after receiving a volley from the enemy, out-numbering us five to PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 85 one, we quickly decided that discretion was the better part of valor. We retreated, not to say in good order, but with the utmost speed. The enemy was between us and Nashville, and how to make our escape was now the burning question. Already one-half of our men were in the hands of the enemy, and to proceed in the direction we were going would only land us farther in the enemy's country. To a sergeant on my right, I said, "Let us take the first road leading to the right;" "Agreed," said he. No sooner was this said, than we came to an open road on the right leading through a dense woods. Down this road we dashed, followed by two others of our command. We crossed over to the Franklin pike, but as it led through Brentwood, we did not deem it safe to return on that road; so we inquired of a negro near at hand, who was waiting to tell us, what road to take to reach the Hillsboro pike. We found the way without much difficulty. We met some women, who were eager to learn the results of the skirmish. Not waiting to answer any questions, we inquired if they had seen any rebels in the neighborhood; that we were after them. The sergeant was also wounded in the shoulder, and considering our circumstances, we would much rather be after the rebels than to have them after us. When we reached the Hillsboro pike, we headed for Nashville. The boys insisted on my 86 SABRE STROKES. dismounting and riding on a wagon that was going that way. We were now ten miles from our camp, and by no means out of danger. I proposed to stick to my horse. We galloped down the pike a short distance till we came to a blacksmith shop surrounded with a dozen saddled horses. We presumed the men were in the shop and would give us a volley as we passed, then mount and capture what was left of us. But not a man showed his head, and we were glad - neither did we stop to inquire where they had gone. At sunset we rode into camp, only two of the horses able to move faster than a walk. From the time we had the fight we rode seventeen miles. Only four out of the thirty escaped with their horses. A few of the teamsters got back by hunting their way through the woods on foot. The rest were captured and run off to Columbia, where they were paroled. After the surgeon had examined my wounds, he sent me, by ambulance, to hospital No. 8, in Nashville. Here I remained one month for repairs. The doctor, with his scalpel, liberated a few of the shots, but one he failed to find with his probe; it had imbedded itself behind the bone, "and," said the doctor, "you may carry that as a souvenir of your lucky escape." Among the first to visit me, in the hospital, was Oliver Mantle, in whose stead I had gone with the train. He seemed to think my wound should have PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 87 been his. Poor fellow! he did not know that his time to go to the hospital, to suffer and to die, was so near at hand. The day after I returned to the regiment, Oliver was sent to the hospital to die of typhoid fever. We missed Oliver. He was always jovial, always generous. He was rough-spoken at times, but there was no bitterness in his heart. Nothing delighted him more than to charge into a flock of geese or turkeys, to clip their heads with the edge of the sword as neatly as you would snuff a candle, and then to divide the slaughtered poultry among the boys. During the thirty days that I was in the hospital, eight men were carried to the grave out of my ward. It was enough to make a man think of dying. One characteristic of the dying soldiers was particularly noticeable; those who embraced the Christian faith passed away peacefully, and with an expression of triumph on their lips, while others without this anchor of the soul, seemed tempest-tossed, and at last sunk unwillingly and despairingly into the embrace of death. A Christian soldier in a bunk on my right talked sweetly of home, of Christ, and of heaven; in the evening his life was fast ebbing away; next morning we found him "asleep in Jesus." The next night an artillery man on my left was terrified at the thought that he must die; he groaned and cursed, he struggled with a mighty adversary, and 88 SABRE STROKES. at last from mere exhaustion passed under the cloud. In my pious enthusiasm I employed my leisure hours in composing a "tract" entitled the "Soldier's Guide." In it I endeavored to show the reasonableness and importance of making "our calling and election sure." Five hundred copies were printed in the office of the "Nashville Union," and were distributed by myself and others, in camp and hospital. By permission, I attended a revival service a number of evenings in the Methodist Church, conducted by Chaplain Losier. It was principally attended by soldiers, and many officers and men professed conversion. About the second night, the writer was detailed to talk to the mourners; but as he was a new hand at this business, he was unable to throw much light in the way of sinners. His presence did not help the meeting, but the meeting helped him. To see a number of captains and colonels take a decided stand for Christ, made him stronger in his determination to follow the Master. After the defeat of Bragg in Kentucky, the enemy began to invest Nashville more closely. In order to protect our supply trains, it became necessary to push back the outposts of the enemy. Accordingly on the seventh of October, General Negley moved out on the Murfreesboro pike, with PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 89 two thousand infantry, six hundred cavalry, and four guns. At Lavergne, fifteen miles south of Nashville, he attacked the enemy, three thousand strong, and after a spirited battle of thirty minutes, the enemy was completely routed, with a loss of eighty killed and wounded, one hundred and seventy-five prisoners, with three guns and the colors of a regiment. In this brilliant affair the "Seventh" was hotly engaged, and lost several brave men. John Brown, of Company " E," was instantly killed. Sergeant Darrah was wounded in the shoulder, and sent to a neighboring hospital. On the twenty-first of October, just one year from the time we entered Camp Cameron, Harrisburg, I received my discharge from the hospital, and returned to my place in the ranks. My favorite horse, "Shotty," that had carried me so smoothly on the ride from McMinnville to Manchester, and delivered me from the clutches of the enemy at Brentwood, was now suffering from a sore back, and was sent to the horse-corral for treatment. In a few days the command was ordered out on the Franklin pike, to feel the force of the enemy that was threatening the city from that direction. General Negley commanded in person. The enemy made an assault on our lines, and were repulsed with considerable loss. The artillery fir- 90 SABRE STROKES. ing was very heavy on both sides. The shells and solid shot cut through the tree-tops at a fearful rate. Several blunders were committed by officers, who were at the time under the influence of liquor. It is a sad fact, and yet it must be admitted, that drunkenness among the officers lead to the unnecessary sacrifice of many a man, and many a dollar, in the early part of the war. Fortunately, our forces were withdrawn from the enemy's front without any serious loss. About this time General Rosecrans superseded Buell, and began to concentrate his army at Nashville, in preparation for a pitched battle. Almost daily skirmishes took place with the enemy's pickets. Two companies of the Forty-ninth Michigan infantry were deceived by a flag of truce, and captured, during a heavy rain-storm, while on picket duty on the Murfreesboro pike. Our battalion was sent out to take their place for twenty-four hours. We sat in the saddle night and day, with carbine advanced, and frequently exchanged shots with the enemy's pickets. It may not be unworthy of note to state that the writer, during his convalescence in the hospital, was promoted to the honorable position of eighth corporal. The honor doubtless was conferred for gallantry in running away from, and not for fighting the enemy. This position had been offered PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 91 him at Harrisburg, when the company was organized; but he, with others of his comrades, foolishly supposed that some military qualifications were necessary to hold an office. Besides all this, the captain happened to be a near relative, and by accepting so important a position at his hands, it might be said of him that he was partial to his own nephew. But after a year's service in the ranks, being thoroughly peppered with shot, and having made a masterly retreat, the writer received the appointment without a murmur on the part of the boys. The road to military glory was now open to the writer, and the stars shone propitious in the horizon of the future. On Saturday night, November the eighth, it fell to my lot to serve as corporal of the campguard. The regiment was camped on the Franklin pike, in close proximity to the enemy's pickets. The corporal had strict orders to see that all the lights be put out, and that perfect quiet be maintained in camp after ten o'clock that night. The order was strictly obeyed, except in the colonel's quarters. At about midnight, the sentinel in front of the colonel's quarters took sick, and called for a supernumerary to take his place. There were no supernumeraries provided, and therefore the corporal relieved the sick man, and walked the beat himself. For twenty minutes he walked back and forth, lis- 92 SABRE STROKES. tening to the drinking, cursing, carousing, and card-playing in the colonel's tent. The colonel and five other commissioned officers were engaged in this midnight revelry. The thought flashed on the mind of the corporal, "Is it right for a soldier of the United States of America, to stand guard over a gambling institution?" Without weighing the consequences, as an older head would do, he walked to the tent, separated the canvass, and said: "Gentlemen, my instructions, as 'corporal of the guard,' require me to maintain good order in camp, and I am sorry to say that the conduct in this tent is unbecoming the officers of our regiment." The colonel rose to his feet, and grasping the hilt of his sword, said: "Who are you, you impudent scoundrel?" "I am the sentinel walking the beat in front of your quarters, sir," said the corporal. "I shall have you tied up by the thumbs for forty-eight hours, you rascal," said the colonel. "I had rather be tied up for a month than to stand guard over a gambling-table," said the corporal, upon resuming his beat. A council of administration was immediately convened to dispose of the refractory corporal. In a few minutes the adjutant appeared with a flag of truce, proposing to quash the whole matter, and say nothing more about it; but the corporal, having his PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 93 "dutch" up, reasserted his original declaration that he would rather suffer the penalty. Another council was held in the now very quiet sanctum, after which the adjutant again appeared, with instructions to send the intruder to his quarters, there to await further orders. Next morning Captain Schaeffer was summoned to the colonel's tent, and received a written order to have that insolent corporal reduced to the ranks. "That man will murder," said the colonel, "I could see it in his eye." It was no use for the captain to say that he had known the young man from his boyhood, and could vouch for his harmless disposition. "His stripes must come off," said the colonel. Fortunately, the young corporal had not yet donned the stripes. A number of the commissioned officers of the regiment, such as Major Dart, Captain Schaeffer, Lieutenants Greno, Herman, Hayes and others, urged that the case be appealed to General Negley. But the writer discouraged such an appeal for two reasons: first, because it would be next to impossible for a private soldier to get justice in such a case, before a court and jury composed of commissioned officers; and second, the office of a corporal was a bone with so little meat on it, that it was not worth fighting over. The colonel was a brave man in battle, but entirely too fond of whiskey. He soon after resigned 94 SABRE STROKES. and returned to his home in Pottsville, leaving the regiment in command of his nephew, Major John Wynkoop. Disease also did its deadly work in our company during the latter part of the summer. Corporal John Hull succumbed at last to chronic diarrhoea. A truer soldier never drew a sword, than "Captain John." His manly form, for many months, stood as the right-hand post, on which the company formed line at roll-call. Corporal John Eyre died in his tent, of typhoid fever. These were laid beside their comrades in the Soldier's Cemetery at Nashville. The following members of Company "E" were elected to fill the vacancies in the list of corporals: Daniel Herr, better known as "Buster," John Rhoades, and George Adams. A number of new recruits joined our company in the fall of sixty-two, consisting of George and Isaac Smith, S. B. Jobson, J. P. Haslett, W. C. Hughes, T. R. Dennis, B. Catherman, Lewis Catherman, and Q. A. Brown. These recruits arrived in time to engage in the "Battle of Stone River."