Chapter 6, History of the 85th Illinois Regiment Volunteer Infantry

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

CHAPTER VI
Pages 52-60

December 1862 - January 1863

Active preparations were making for an advance of the army and a battle that all felt must be fought for the possession of middle Tennessee. There were many skirmishes and affairs of outposts which, in one instance at least, approached almost to the dignity of battle. The foragers had almost daily encounters with the enemy, but all these were only incidental to the concentration of two large armies, each of which was anxious to try the issue of battle once more.
In the reorganization of the army which took place about the beginning of the month, the Thirty-sixth brigade was detached from Sheridan’s division, and on the 10th returned to Nashville for garrison duty. General Rosecrans had assigned Brigadier Robert B. Mitchell to the command of that important post, with the brigades of Brigadier James D. Morgan and Colonel Daniel McCook, to garrison the city. Of the departure of the brigade from his division, General Sheridan said:*

*Vol. 1, page 210, General Sheridan's Personal Memoirs

"Colonel Daniel McCook’s brigade reluctantly joined the garrison at Nashville, everyone in it disappointed and disgusted that the circumstances at the time existing should necessitate their relegation to the harassing and tantalizing duty of protecting our depots and line of supply." On arriving at Nashville the brigade went into Camp not far from where the Vanderbilt University now stands and occupied that camp or one in the immediate vicinity during its term of service in the Nashville garrison.
The two brigades assigned to garrison Nashville in December, 1862, remained together until the close of the war, and were composed of the following commands:

FIRST BRIGADE
General James D. Morgan Commanding
Tenth Illinois – Colonel John Tillson (Tilson)
Sixteenth Illinois – Colonel Robert F. Smith
Sixtieth Illinois - Colonel Silas C. Toler
Tenth Michigan – Lieutenant-Colonel C. J. Dickerson
Fourteenth Michigan – Colonel Myndert W. Quackenbush

SECOND BRIGADE
Colonel Daniel McCook Commanding
Eighty-fifth Illinois – Colonel Robert S. Moore
Eighty-sixth Illinois – Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Magee
One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois – Col. Oscar F. Harmon
Fifty-second Ohio – Lieutenant-colonel D. D. T. Cowen

ARTILLERY
Captain Charles M. Barnett Commanding
Battery I, Second Illinois

     The First brigade had been on garrison duty at this place since the beginning of the Confederate invasion of Kentucky. It was strong in numbers, thoroughly drilled, and officers and men appeared the seasoned veteran soldiers that they were.
     The campaign from Louisville to Nashville had been necessarily severe on the new troops. The men had been given and set out on this their first campaign with the full allowance of equipment, consisting of all that mysterious and curiously contrived outfit which was for a long time issued to the infantry – an outfit that no old soldier would, and no new soldier could carry and wear without breaking down. The result was that many broke down under the unreasonable burdens, while the bad water available along the line of march, owing to the prevailing drought, produced much sickness, which had greatly thinned the ranks of the Second brigade.
     All throughout the winter the camp regulations were very strict, no one being allowed to pass the limits of the camp without written permission. Reveille sounded every morning at half-past five o’clock. Roll-call followed immediately, every man being required to take his place in line in the company street, those failing to respond being placed on extra duty. Then followed preparations fro breakfast, after which the grounds were thoroughly policed. At half-past eight came guard-mount, a part of the detail being assigned for picket duty and a part for camp guard. At half-past nine company drill began, lasting from one to two hours. In the early afternoon there was battalion drill, and at half-past four came dress parade. Before the command left Nashville, guard-mount, battalion drill and dress parade became very elaborate affairs.
     The first thing demanding the attention of the new commander on his arrival at Nashville was the supply of his army. The railroad from Louisville to Nashville had been badly damaged by rebel cavalry raids and at least one long tunnel blown up. But the railroad was repaired and the line of supply reopened, and sufficient supplies accumulated to justify an advance against the enemy. New clothing was issued and the divisions left on guard at points on the railroad were drawn in and placed in camps south of the city. During the first two months of his command General Rosecrans had been untiring in his efforts to assimilate with his army the new troops that had been attached, and had obtained authority from Washington to dismiss from the army all officers who failed from any cause to do their whole duty. Under this authority many officers were permitted to resign – their resignation being endorsed at army headquarters “for the good of the service.”
     On the 26th General Rosecrans with 47,000 men of all arms began the advance against the enemy, who was known to be fully as strong in numbers and in a position of his own choice in front of Murfreesboro. The advance met with stubborn resistance, which steadily increased until the battle of Stone River had been fought and won and Murfreesboro wrested from the defeated foe. Early in the day the roar of artillery could be distinctly heard in the camp of the Eighty-fifth, and from that time there were rumors of disaster to the Union army. These rumors may have been inspired in part by the citizens of the city, who were notoriously disloyal, and in part by anxiety caused by the well-known fact that the rebel army was quite as strong in numbers as that of its assailant. These rumors and the impossibility of getting reliable news from the front made the closing days of the year days of great anxiety for the "Government people" at Nashville.
     At noon on January 2nd, 1863, the Eighty-fifth, with the Fourteenth Michigan, and a brigade of Kentucky and Tennessee troops, moved out on the Murfreesboro pike. While waiting there we learned from soldiers returning from the front, who had been slightly wounded, that a bloody battle was still in progress, and that while it had opened on the morning of December 31st, with a decided advantage to the enemy, who at that time assumed the offensive, that since noon of that day the battle had been in favor of the Union arms. Moreover, we learned another thing, which at first was disagreeable news, but after a moment’s reflection was accepted as an assurance that our army was not only still fighting, but proposed to continue the battle. This report was that a large train loaded with provisions and ammunition, which had been sent out from Nashville, had been attacked that morning at La Vergne by rebel cavalry, the guards dispersed, and the train captured and destroyed, and that the command was then waiting to guard another train to the front. This train was composed of three hundred and three heavily loaded wagons, containing both provisions and ammunition.
     It was near sunset when the long train closed up on the pike, and the long night’s march began. Near the asylum, some seven miles out, the advance had a sharp fight with the cavalry of the enemy, in which the enemy was routed, with the loss of several in killed and wounded and ten prisoners. Soon after dark, as if the elements were in league with the foe, rain began to pour down, which continued without ceasing throughout the weary night. At La Vergne the command passed the wreck of the train captured in the morning, the wagons still burning. The turnpike was in fairly good condition and steadily, hour after hour, the men marched on through mud and rain and darkness, to the tedious rumble of the wagons. The tiresome monotony of the march was only broken when some driver felt called upon to exhort his mules with warlike language to greater effort. It was a hideous night, but knowing that our comrades at the front were hungry and in need of both food and ammunition, the thought sustained the men, and after a night march of thirty-two miles, the train was delivered on the line of battle the next morning about the usual hour for breakfast. During the day the Eighty-fifth was moved to support threatened points in the line, and in the evening it supported the charging column that broke through the rebel right. The experience of the regiment throughout the day was a most trying one, as the fire to which it was subjected could not be returned, while shot and shell fell all around; but, strangely enough, not a man of the regiment was killed, although a few were slightly wounded.
     That night the enemy retreated and the Eighty-fifth returned with the wagon train to Nashville. It is doubtful if any infantry regiment ever endured a longer march, without rest, than that of the Eighty-fifth to Murfreesboro and return. In two nights, with a day of battle intervening, the regiment marched sixty-four miles. Nor was the length of the march all, for both ways it had to guard a train, which always adds to the discomforts of the march.
     The wounded at the battle of Stone River were: Robert Porter, of Company B; George Cooper, of Company G; John E. Jackson and Lester N. Morris, of Company K.
     The following were the changes among the regimental and company officers during the month of December: Samuel F. Wright, regimental quartermaster, was dismissed from the service, and Haloway W. Lightcap, of Havana, Illinois, was commissioned to be his successor. Comfort H. Ranom, first lieutenant of Company D, resigned, and Second Lieutenant Charles H. Chatfield, was promoted to first lieutenant, and Sergeant William W. Turner was promoted to be second lieutenant. Joseph M. Plunket, first lieutenant of Company E, resigned, and Sergeant Hugh A. Trent was promoted to be his successor. Captain William McClelland, of Company G, resigned and returned home, and Private Henry S. LaTourette was commissioned to succeed him.
     Death came very near claiming a victim for each day in the month of December. Those dying were: Corporal George M Welch, Edmond Cratty, Aurelius Layton, Hiram Mason, Wesley J. Whittaker and Martin L. White of Company A; Thomas E. Paul and Jasper N. Wilcox, of Company B; Samuel Derwent, Hiram Ramsey and William Smith, of Company C; Daniel Kicer, John W. Price, Merton Steley and Ira Welch, of Company D; David Armstrong and Wesley Frost, of Company E; John E. Bolen, Daniel Hays and Samuel Still, of Company G; George W. Shaw, of Company H; Edward McCroskey and Jasper Wilcox, of Company I; Corporal Thomas Jemmison, Romeo MaGill, David B. Colglazier, Abner D. Griffin and John Zanise, of Company K.

Chapter 5 Chapter 7

back to 85th Table of Contents