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THIRTY-THIRD ILLINOIS VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
277
will also partially account for the difference in loss. Our men were all armed with rifles or rifled muskets. These muskets carried a ball and three buckshot; they were very effective weapons at close range. While nearly all of the enemy were armed with shotguns and squirrel rifles, they were poorly equipped and undisciplined ; none of them seen by our men were in uniform. It is impossible to suppress a feeling of pity for these misguided men and a wish that they may be speedily
chastised into abandoning their silly rebellion. Nearly all of the Union troops were clothed in the gray colored clothing of the "State troops". Our regiment was clothed in the regulation blue, and General Thompson is reported to have said when he saw our regiment advancing in line of battle, "Damn it! I did not know I had to fight regulars;" thus the moral effect of our soldierly appearance may have had much to do with the final results.
BRIDGE GUARDING IN MISSOURI.
The first part of the regiment's service was in Missouri. It was divided up into detachments, a company or part of a company in a place, to guard the different railroad bridges, of which there were many, crossing the crooked and at times turbulent streams that flowed through the hills in this mountainous country. This railroad was the direct line of communication with St. Louis, the department headquarters. Numerous attempts were being made to destroy these bridges, sometimes by a large force like that which after a hard fought battle captured and destroyed the one across Big river, that was guarded by Company E. Most of these attempts were made by small parties who hoped to secretly weaken the bridge in some manner so that a passing train of cars would break it down, thus to destroy the bridge and wreck the cars as well. These bridges were made wholly of wood and easily destroyed by fire. This method was frequently resorted to in the efforts made to destroy them.
To prevent the destruction of these bridges and capture those making the attempt, was the duty assigned to the men. Scouting parties were frequently sent out, which often resulted in the capture of men who had been guilty of such acts or were awaiting a favorable opportunity to commit them. The captured men were sent to St. Louis and shortly released by those in authority, to return to the same locality, embittered in feeling towards the soldiers, and encouraged by their successful evasion of merited punishment to renew their operations against us. Such releasements were discouraging to the guardians of the railroad and also to the few loyal men in this part of Missouri who aided by information in their capture, and by so doing brought onto themselves the enmity of the rebels in arms as well as those who professed to be Union men, but used this cloak of hypocrisy in every way possible to give aid and comfort to the workers in rebellion. The parties arrested and sent to St. Louis always had friends, either at headquarters or among the professed loyal citizens of that city, who, by false statements, established the loyalty of the accused and by that means secured their release. The whole official environment at headquarters was permeated with disloyalty, which easily accounts for the non-accomplishment of any results tending to
restore that part of the country to the union. The soldiers became convinced that these attempted bridge destroyers were the professed loyal citizens of the locality, as these attempts showed that the parties were thoroughly acquainted with the surroundings, and only the capturing of them while committing the act would secure their conviction.
To cause the enemy to be more bold in its operations, the men, when opportunity offered, were to talk as though they thought it wholly unnecessary to watch the bridges at night; that they intended when placed on guard to lie down and go to sleep, to waken only when the cars would come or an officer was due to appear on the scene. A change was made in the manner of placing the guards at night. They were secreted in a position where they could see and hear but not be observed by any one unacquainted with their hiding place. In this manner the bridges were apparently in an unguarded condition. One night two of the boys placed at one of the bridges in their place of concealed observation, which was under the bridge, watched patiently until along into the night. Nothing thus far had disturbed the quietness around them. One of the men had become tired from standing still and sat down on what he thought to be the end of a log left by the bridge repairers who had been working on the bridge but a short time before; the supposed log stood on end and made a comfortable seat. The night was chilly ; he was well wrapped up and everything was so quiet, he fell asleep. A disturbance at one end of the bridge aroused his companion to activity ; he started to investigate the cause of the trouble. He saw a man in the act of applying a light to some inflammable material he had placed near the woodwork at the end of the bridge. He called to the fellow to surrender, but instead of doing so he ran towards the brush near the bridge. The guard fired his rifle fit him, but failed, owing to the uncertain light, to stop him. He ran after him as fast as he could, but did not overtake him. He noticed that his companion was not with him, and also that he had not fired his gun. He heard a disturbance as if a great struggle was going on at the place of concealment. He hurried to his companion's assistance and found him struggling with a supposed log. It had him fast; his struggle had
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 277 |
| Transcript | THIRTY-THIRD ILLINOIS VETERAN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. 277 will also partially account for the difference in loss. Our men were all armed with rifles or rifled muskets. These muskets carried a ball and three buckshot; they were very effective weapons at close range. While nearly all of the enemy were armed with shotguns and squirrel rifles, they were poorly equipped and undisciplined ; none of them seen by our men were in uniform. It is impossible to suppress a feeling of pity for these misguided men and a wish that they may be speedily chastised into abandoning their silly rebellion. Nearly all of the Union troops were clothed in the gray colored clothing of the "State troops". Our regiment was clothed in the regulation blue, and General Thompson is reported to have said when he saw our regiment advancing in line of battle, "Damn it! I did not know I had to fight regulars;" thus the moral effect of our soldierly appearance may have had much to do with the final results. BRIDGE GUARDING IN MISSOURI. The first part of the regiment's service was in Missouri. It was divided up into detachments, a company or part of a company in a place, to guard the different railroad bridges, of which there were many, crossing the crooked and at times turbulent streams that flowed through the hills in this mountainous country. This railroad was the direct line of communication with St. Louis, the department headquarters. Numerous attempts were being made to destroy these bridges, sometimes by a large force like that which after a hard fought battle captured and destroyed the one across Big river, that was guarded by Company E. Most of these attempts were made by small parties who hoped to secretly weaken the bridge in some manner so that a passing train of cars would break it down, thus to destroy the bridge and wreck the cars as well. These bridges were made wholly of wood and easily destroyed by fire. This method was frequently resorted to in the efforts made to destroy them. To prevent the destruction of these bridges and capture those making the attempt, was the duty assigned to the men. Scouting parties were frequently sent out, which often resulted in the capture of men who had been guilty of such acts or were awaiting a favorable opportunity to commit them. The captured men were sent to St. Louis and shortly released by those in authority, to return to the same locality, embittered in feeling towards the soldiers, and encouraged by their successful evasion of merited punishment to renew their operations against us. Such releasements were discouraging to the guardians of the railroad and also to the few loyal men in this part of Missouri who aided by information in their capture, and by so doing brought onto themselves the enmity of the rebels in arms as well as those who professed to be Union men, but used this cloak of hypocrisy in every way possible to give aid and comfort to the workers in rebellion. The parties arrested and sent to St. Louis always had friends, either at headquarters or among the professed loyal citizens of that city, who, by false statements, established the loyalty of the accused and by that means secured their release. The whole official environment at headquarters was permeated with disloyalty, which easily accounts for the non-accomplishment of any results tending to restore that part of the country to the union. The soldiers became convinced that these attempted bridge destroyers were the professed loyal citizens of the locality, as these attempts showed that the parties were thoroughly acquainted with the surroundings, and only the capturing of them while committing the act would secure their conviction. To cause the enemy to be more bold in its operations, the men, when opportunity offered, were to talk as though they thought it wholly unnecessary to watch the bridges at night; that they intended when placed on guard to lie down and go to sleep, to waken only when the cars would come or an officer was due to appear on the scene. A change was made in the manner of placing the guards at night. They were secreted in a position where they could see and hear but not be observed by any one unacquainted with their hiding place. In this manner the bridges were apparently in an unguarded condition. One night two of the boys placed at one of the bridges in their place of concealed observation, which was under the bridge, watched patiently until along into the night. Nothing thus far had disturbed the quietness around them. One of the men had become tired from standing still and sat down on what he thought to be the end of a log left by the bridge repairers who had been working on the bridge but a short time before; the supposed log stood on end and made a comfortable seat. The night was chilly ; he was well wrapped up and everything was so quiet, he fell asleep. A disturbance at one end of the bridge aroused his companion to activity ; he started to investigate the cause of the trouble. He saw a man in the act of applying a light to some inflammable material he had placed near the woodwork at the end of the bridge. He called to the fellow to surrender, but instead of doing so he ran towards the brush near the bridge. The guard fired his rifle fit him, but failed, owing to the uncertain light, to stop him. He ran after him as fast as he could, but did not overtake him. He noticed that his companion was not with him, and also that he had not fired his gun. He heard a disturbance as if a great struggle was going on at the place of concealment. He hurried to his companion's assistance and found him struggling with a supposed log. It had him fast; his struggle had |
| Collection Name | Illinois and the Civil War - Documents |
