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164
COMPANY SKETCHES AND ROSTERS.
structed the road. "Do you dare to resist a General of the army?" he yelled. "Yes, sir, under instructions, and in line of duty, I would resist the President himself." Shaking with anger, he ordered me to report to him as soon as I was relieved from duty. He turned his horse and rode away. As soon as I was relieved, with my ears drooping like those of an army mule in distress, I marched up and saluted the General. He saluted me in return and said he was glad to find volunteer soldiers who knew their duty and dared to do it under all circumstances; that he did not know of the existence of such an order until so informed by his Adjutant on his return to headquarters. He then saluted, giving me to understand the interview was ended. I returned to camp feeling much better than I did before the interview.
On the 14th of January, '63, we started in the mud and slush to go farther south and west. I had a little experience that day which is worth relating. While crossing one of the swift mountain streams on a fallen tree, three of the boys of H who were "overloaded" and rather timid about "cooning" trees, fell into the water, and before they were rescued they were pretty well water-soaked. The Captain ordered me to take charge of the three fallen angels of H and get them into some house or barn along the road, make them comfortable and rejoin the company. We had traveled about a mile when we came to a large barn where other disconsolates were resting. They had built a fire on the ground floor, and I soon had the boys comfortable and happy. When I started to overtake my company it was raining and the road was like a quagmire. With my "gum blanket" over my shoulders I plodded on, not in a very hilarious frame of mind. Presently I overtook an army train stuck in the mud. The mules were tuneful. The teamsters were "cussing" and the wagon master was roaring, while the rain was gently falling on the just and the unjust. A heavy detail of soldiers was helping the train, and a 2nd Lieutenant was bossing the job. He was a small man, with a small head and still smaller brain, and he did not fit his shoulder straps by several diameters. He had taken a drink or two of "mountain dew" and it had rushed to his head to fill the vacuum. He was rushing his horse from one end of the train to the other in a perfect frenzy. I seated myself on a stone near the road, and was quietly eating my dinner of hard tack and "raw bacon", and was otherwise enjoying life to my full capacity, when the little fellow rode up and ordered me to put my things in a wagon and help lift the teams out of the mud. I politely told him I had a prior engagement. Then he rushed his horse up the bank and tried to ride over me, and finally drew his sword and tried to strike me. I fixed my bayonet to repel his cavalry charge, and in one of his frantic efforts his horse threw him, and I had a fine life-size portrait of the little fellow, taken in Missouri mud. To avoid trouble I started on, and had gone probably half a mile when, on looking back, I saw the Lieuten-
ant coming after me as fast as his poor horse could travel. Hastily loading my gun "in nine times", I continued my weary way. I did not want to kill him, as it would muss up the road, but I intended to defend myself. To avoid trouble I left the road and hid in the brush. Soon I heard him go by, and I thought it better to let him empty his profanity and wrath on space, rather than on me. A little later I saw him returning to his command.
By this time it was snowing, and the prospect was dismal. I could see nothing of the regiment, and night was coming on. An hour later the snow concealed all tracks, but I pressed on until I had crossed a creek and came to a fork of the road. Which road to take I could not decide. One no doubt led to the Confederate camp, but which one? Near the creek which I had crossed was a small hut that had been burned. I walked back to the place, raked a few embers together and started a fire. The snow was still falling furiously. The gravel bed on which the hut had stood was hot, and the snow melted on it as fast as it fell. I decided to camp down for the night, and filling my canteen and can with water from the creek, proceeded to cook my supper. It was the same "old thing"—coffee, bacon and hard-tack ; not very sumptuous, but filling. After supper I gathered a few large half-burned brands together, spread my woolen blanket on the warm gravel bed near the fire, and after repeating "Now I lay me down to sleep", I spread my rubber blanket over me and "slept the sleep of the just, made contented through suffering". In the morning when I awoke I found I was under four inches of snow. If I had suffered any during the night I did not know it. After a hearty breakfast of hard-tack, bacon and coffee, I started on and took the left-hand road at the forks. I had not gone more than a hundred yards before I heard the challenge, "Halt! Who goes there?" I recognized the voice as that of Grove Chapman, of Company H, and in a moment I was in the "house of my friends". When I reached camp, an hour later, Company H was going out on an expedition of some kind. I was excused from duty and remained in camp.
On the 16th of January we "swung out" again, and after a hard and trying march in mud, rain, and snow, we reached Alton, Mo., in a driving rain, which turned to snow on the 19th. At Alton we were on half rations and with dismal prospects before us. On the 22nd the regiment took the back track for Van Buren to guard a pontoon train to the front. Passing "Eleven Points" and "Falling Spring", we reached Pine Tree Camp, within ten miles of Van Buren, on the 24th. There the regiment rested, while Companies H and G made the hard ten-mile march to Van Buren on the afternoon of the 25th and returned to Pine Tree on the 27th. On the 28th we started to rejoin the army, and passing through Thomasville reached West Plains, where the army was, on the 2nd of February, 1863. Here we were brigaded with the 99th Illinois and the 11th Wisconsin.
Object Description
| Title | History of the Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, 22nd August, 1861, to 7th December, 1865 |
| Creator | Way, Virgil Gilman, 1847- |
| Contributors | Elliott, Isaac Hughes, 1837-1922 |
| Subject [LCSH] |
Illinois. 33d Regiment, 1861-1865 United States --History --Civil War, 1861-1865 --Regimental histories --Illinois Infantry --33d |
| Description | History of the Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, 22nd August, 1861, to 7th December, 1865 |
| Date Original | 1902 |
| Format | Book |
| Digital Format | JPEG |
| Language | eng |
| Contributing Institution | Illinois State Library |
| Rights | Materials in this collection are made available by the Illinois State Library. To request reproductions or inquire about permissions, contact: islimg@ilsos.net. Please cite the item title and collection name. |
| Identifier | 2849438 |
| Type | Text |
| Collection Name | Illinois and the Civil War - Documents |
| OCLC number | 830038418 |
Description
| Title | Page 164 |
| Transcript | 164 COMPANY SKETCHES AND ROSTERS. structed the road. "Do you dare to resist a General of the army?" he yelled. "Yes, sir, under instructions, and in line of duty, I would resist the President himself." Shaking with anger, he ordered me to report to him as soon as I was relieved from duty. He turned his horse and rode away. As soon as I was relieved, with my ears drooping like those of an army mule in distress, I marched up and saluted the General. He saluted me in return and said he was glad to find volunteer soldiers who knew their duty and dared to do it under all circumstances; that he did not know of the existence of such an order until so informed by his Adjutant on his return to headquarters. He then saluted, giving me to understand the interview was ended. I returned to camp feeling much better than I did before the interview. On the 14th of January, '63, we started in the mud and slush to go farther south and west. I had a little experience that day which is worth relating. While crossing one of the swift mountain streams on a fallen tree, three of the boys of H who were "overloaded" and rather timid about "cooning" trees, fell into the water, and before they were rescued they were pretty well water-soaked. The Captain ordered me to take charge of the three fallen angels of H and get them into some house or barn along the road, make them comfortable and rejoin the company. We had traveled about a mile when we came to a large barn where other disconsolates were resting. They had built a fire on the ground floor, and I soon had the boys comfortable and happy. When I started to overtake my company it was raining and the road was like a quagmire. With my "gum blanket" over my shoulders I plodded on, not in a very hilarious frame of mind. Presently I overtook an army train stuck in the mud. The mules were tuneful. The teamsters were "cussing" and the wagon master was roaring, while the rain was gently falling on the just and the unjust. A heavy detail of soldiers was helping the train, and a 2nd Lieutenant was bossing the job. He was a small man, with a small head and still smaller brain, and he did not fit his shoulder straps by several diameters. He had taken a drink or two of "mountain dew" and it had rushed to his head to fill the vacuum. He was rushing his horse from one end of the train to the other in a perfect frenzy. I seated myself on a stone near the road, and was quietly eating my dinner of hard tack and "raw bacon", and was otherwise enjoying life to my full capacity, when the little fellow rode up and ordered me to put my things in a wagon and help lift the teams out of the mud. I politely told him I had a prior engagement. Then he rushed his horse up the bank and tried to ride over me, and finally drew his sword and tried to strike me. I fixed my bayonet to repel his cavalry charge, and in one of his frantic efforts his horse threw him, and I had a fine life-size portrait of the little fellow, taken in Missouri mud. To avoid trouble I started on, and had gone probably half a mile when, on looking back, I saw the Lieuten- ant coming after me as fast as his poor horse could travel. Hastily loading my gun "in nine times", I continued my weary way. I did not want to kill him, as it would muss up the road, but I intended to defend myself. To avoid trouble I left the road and hid in the brush. Soon I heard him go by, and I thought it better to let him empty his profanity and wrath on space, rather than on me. A little later I saw him returning to his command. By this time it was snowing, and the prospect was dismal. I could see nothing of the regiment, and night was coming on. An hour later the snow concealed all tracks, but I pressed on until I had crossed a creek and came to a fork of the road. Which road to take I could not decide. One no doubt led to the Confederate camp, but which one? Near the creek which I had crossed was a small hut that had been burned. I walked back to the place, raked a few embers together and started a fire. The snow was still falling furiously. The gravel bed on which the hut had stood was hot, and the snow melted on it as fast as it fell. I decided to camp down for the night, and filling my canteen and can with water from the creek, proceeded to cook my supper. It was the same "old thing"—coffee, bacon and hard-tack ; not very sumptuous, but filling. After supper I gathered a few large half-burned brands together, spread my woolen blanket on the warm gravel bed near the fire, and after repeating "Now I lay me down to sleep", I spread my rubber blanket over me and "slept the sleep of the just, made contented through suffering". In the morning when I awoke I found I was under four inches of snow. If I had suffered any during the night I did not know it. After a hearty breakfast of hard-tack, bacon and coffee, I started on and took the left-hand road at the forks. I had not gone more than a hundred yards before I heard the challenge, "Halt! Who goes there?" I recognized the voice as that of Grove Chapman, of Company H, and in a moment I was in the "house of my friends". When I reached camp, an hour later, Company H was going out on an expedition of some kind. I was excused from duty and remained in camp. On the 16th of January we "swung out" again, and after a hard and trying march in mud, rain, and snow, we reached Alton, Mo., in a driving rain, which turned to snow on the 19th. At Alton we were on half rations and with dismal prospects before us. On the 22nd the regiment took the back track for Van Buren to guard a pontoon train to the front. Passing "Eleven Points" and "Falling Spring", we reached Pine Tree Camp, within ten miles of Van Buren, on the 24th. There the regiment rested, while Companies H and G made the hard ten-mile march to Van Buren on the afternoon of the 25th and returned to Pine Tree on the 27th. On the 28th we started to rejoin the army, and passing through Thomasville reached West Plains, where the army was, on the 2nd of February, 1863. Here we were brigaded with the 99th Illinois and the 11th Wisconsin. |
| Collection Name | Illinois and the Civil War - Documents |
