85th Illinois Infantry: Chapter 5

History of the 85th Illinois Volunteers
Illinois Volunteer Infantry
by
Henry J. Aten

CHAPTER V.
Pages 47 - 52
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November 1862

     The dark and gloomy days in which the Eighty-fifth entered the field were followed, as dark days usually are, by brighter and more hopeful ones. The operations of General Lee in Virginia and Maryland; of General Bragg in Tennessee and Kentucky, and of Generals Price and Van Dorn in Northern Mississippi, during the summer and autumn of 1862, covered the broadest field and displayed the boldest aggression of the Confederate armies during the war. For a time the tide of invasion ran high in the east, where Lee pressed the Union army back into Maryland, but at Antietam he met a bloody defeat and his army was forced to retire into Virginia to defend the approaches to the Confederate Capital. In Kentucky some of the rebel rangers may have caught a hasty glimpse of the Ohio river, but after the battle of Perryville Bragg made haste to get behind the mountains of Tennessee. Just when General Bragg lost hope completely is not revealed, but at the moment when success seemed within his grasp, his bold strategy failed and he drifted about in Kentucky until expelled by a far from energetic pursuit. But when Price and Van Dorn attempted to play the role of invaders in Mississippi, and perform their part in the scheme of invading the North the result was different. Confronting them was the small army under General Grant, in positions chosen with admirable skill. And instead of retreating and calling loudly and without ceasing for reinforcements, like McClellan and Buel, the hero of Donelson and Shiloh defeated the enemy at Iuka, routed him at Corinth, and dispersed the foe at the Hatchie river. Grant not only did not retreat, but fixed more firmly than ever his relentless grasp on that end of the Confederacy.
     But promising as was the beginning of these campaigns to the South, like all others of similar character throughout the war, actual accomplishment fell far below Southern expectation. And when General Lee retreated from the battlefield of Antietam, General Bragg from Perryville, and Generals Price and Van Dorn from Iuka, Corinth and the Hatchie river, the Southern people saw plainly that the war was still to bring desolation to their homes and destruction to their section. They realized that their boldest strategy and the exertion of their full strength could only delay, but could not permanently prevent the advance of the Federal armies. During September and October the invading armies were driven back within the original limits of the Confederacy, and new offensive campaigns planned, the main one in the west, looking to the reconquest of Tennessee and Northern Alabama, to be executed by the Army of the Cumberland.
     On Tuesday morning, November 4th, marching orders were received, the destination being Nashville, Tennessee. All soldiers not able to march were sent to the general hospital which had been established at Bowling Green. That evening the brigade camped a few miles beyond Franklin, and the next day crossed the state line and camped at Mitchellville in Sumner County, Tennessee. Here the Eighty-fifth was detailed for guard duty and remained at Mitchellville until noon on the 8th, when the march was resumed. The regiment arrived at Edgefield, a handsome suburb of Nashville, at noon on Monday, the 19th, and camped on a plateau north of the river and just outside the little town.
     On Wednesday, the 12th, the division was reviewed by General Rosecrans, and the men saw the new army commander for the first time. The change of commanders was hailed with delight, and, while almost any change would have been acceptable, the appointment of Rosecrans, fresh from his well-earned victories in Mississippi, was especially gratifying. Nor was he long in winning the entire confidence of his new command.
     On the 19th there was a detail made from the Eighty-fifth, under the command of Captain Scott, to guard a train sent out for forage. This detail had proceeded some sixteen miles down the Cumberland river, when a tree, suddenly and without warning, fell across one of the wagons, instantly killing William S. Potter and William Ray, of Company E. These men were sitting near the middle of the wagon, and others sitting in front and rear of them, in the same wagon, escaped wholly unharmed.
     On Friday, the 21st, the Thirty-sixth brigade went on a foraging expedition. This trip, as well as others make in the next month, were made with the full equipment necessary for fighting a battle if necessary, the battery accompanying the brigade. The expedition returned the next evening with sixty beef cattle, two hundred hogs, seventy-five sheep, and a large amount of hay and corn.
     On Saturday, the 22nd, the division marched through Nashville, and out on the Murfreesboro pike, some seven miles to the crossing of Mill creek. At this point the Eighty-fifth camped near the turnpike and on the eastern slope of a timbered hill. On the 25th the regiment went on picket, the outposts overlooking the valley of Mill creek. On the hills beyond the outposts the enemy could be distinctly seen. Bragg was concentrating the rebel army at Murfreesboro, and had strong outposts at La Vergne, his cavalry pickets being advanced to the south banks of Mill Creek valley. In the immediate presence of the enemy it was usual for one-third of the command detailed fro picket duty to be kept on outpost guard, one-third allowed to sleep beside the fires. The guards on outpost duty from Company G brought in two prisoners captured at a farm house near the line during the day.
     At Peoria the Eighty-fifth was supplied with large Sibley tents, five of which were allowed to each company. The men had by this time learned to make themselves quite comfortable. As soon as the weather became cold enough to require fires various kinds of fireplaces were improvised, and in this way made the large tents very pleasant and cheerful. Bayonets stuck into the ground answered the purpose of candlesticks, the accoutrements were hung to the center pole, while around its base were grouped the shining Enfield rifles. The men told stories, sang songs, wrote letters, played cards or checkers according to inclination, until tattoo and taps, when the lights went out and the men went to bed. When lighted up of an evening camp at Mill creek seen from a distance presented a very pretty picture. The white tents, standing in regular rows, and each lit up within, appeared as snug and cozy as any rustic village scene.
     During the month of November the following charges took place among the company officers: On the 12th John W. Neal, Second Lieutenant of Company A resigned and returned home, and Private Daniel Westfall was promoted to be his successor. On the same day First Lieutenant Lafayette Curless, of Company G, resigned, and Second Lieutenant John M. Robertson was promoted to be first lieutenant, and First Sergeant, D. L. Musselman was chosen second lieutenant. Captain Nathaniel McClelland, First Lieutenant Luke Elliot, and Second Lieutenant William Cothern, all of Company H, resigned during the month, and Private David Maxwell was chosen captain, Private James T. McNeil, first lieutenant, and Private Washington M. Shields, second lieutenant of Company H.
     During the month of October and November death was busy in the ranks, his victims being found in the hospitals at Louisville, Harrodsburg, Danville and Bowling Green. Those dying were: John W. Bradburn, David A. Gordon, Franklin Gillmore and Corporal Joseph F. Rodgers, of Company A; Henry Connor and Samuel Danawain, of Company of B; William Clark, Ephriam Cates, John A. Gardner, George Gregory, Daniel W. Hastings, Robert S. Moore, Joseph O’Donnell, Ebenezer Paul, George W. Reynolds, Archibald J. Stubblefield and Corporal William C. Pelham, of Company C, Michael Ekis, William A. Mence and Christopher Shutt, of Company E, Henry Henfling, F. S. Henfling, Henry Stalder, John Turner and Alexander Woodcock, of Company F; John Cunningham and William Cunningham, of Company H; Wilson Hughes and Thomas J. Royes, of Company I; First Sergeant Robert F. Reason, Corporal William K. Rose George H. Cottrell, Charles P. Riddle, Moses Shaw, Michael Speight and Everard Tegard, of Company K.

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