>: ;■ iii A ' v>^ ^. °\ 'OO ^^y- V^^ x^^^ ;^\.^^ .-J-^' V*' '*^ ^''^f %3' v^ ^. 1^^''' %, %'^:^.* .^V' ,■0. '^ '^ ^ "^A V^ ^-i'- ^^•S^ .-r . <.^' y\^.. ■"oo"^ /" ■^^ ^0 C -^' . ^.^ r\- ^ &- ''^A V^' ^^^ y. » « ^ ' . N"' .-'^■■^' I ,, .0 ^^.<^ x^^. •^ V c '^ '^ '' -? -:^^ .0^ cP' .^ r •>- V :<■ .A ,\v ^ -> s .o -V ,-0 ^.' ■"oo^ ,^-> ""^^ * o. ,0 o .^^ ^^^ ^ -^A V^^ X^^^. ;%. .^^ : % f :^ 0- <.^'»* '-^ ^ •'ex-* ^\ ■^ ,0 o V . .<^- ■-'/.•••-' •^ '/ .. N*^ .'O ,^- -^^ aN ''>H. .V •%>< /^-'^■^-t.'^ y^ . L^t.^'— — ^o Lewis Historical Fi^h- Jin il^mortam QIl)arlottr 31. Qlumtnga By iRpfa. i. N. iFrabntburQli, i. i.. IC. IC. i- 913 The Derrick Publishing Company Oil City, Pa. Copyright, J. N. Fradenburgh, 191? FEB -7 1914 ©CI. A.'} 6 24 8 CONTENTS Chapter. Page, I. Early Life and Ancestry 7 II. As College Student — Enlistment 23 III. The "Hell Alarch" and the Bloody Battle 35 IV. The Tullahoma Campaign 49 V. Chickamauga 65 VI. Chattanooga, Lookout ]\Iountain. Missionary Ridge Ss VII. The Atlanta Campaign 105 VIII. "Marching Through Georgia" 123 IX. From Savannah Northward and Home 139 X. Business Life 165 XL State Senator 181 XII. Death and Last Funeral Obsequies 199 XIII. Mrs. Charlotte J. Cumings 215 ILLUSTRATIONS Page H. H. Cumings Frontispiece ^ Benjamin Cumings 9 Mrs. Benjamin Cumings 13, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cumings 17 Charles Cumings 21 . Henry H. Cumings, Student at Oberlin College 25/' Henry H. Cumings, Student 29 / H. H. Cumings, Soldier 33^ Captain H. H. Cumings 45^ Winter Quarters at Chattanooga, From a War Time Photograph 85^^ Missionary Ridge — Center of Baird's Assault 93 ^ Monument in Memory of the 105th Ohio Infantry 113 - Captain H. H. Cumings 141 ^ Captain H. H. Cumings, Business Man 167^ Captain H. H. Cumings, State Senator 185^ G. A. R. Lodge Room, Tidioute, Pa 193^, Cumings' Monument, Tidioute, Pa 201/ Charlotte J. Cumings 214^ Captain H. H. Cumings' Residence, Tidioute, Pa 217 ^ Charlotte J. Cumings — Early Photograph 221 ^ Andrew J. Sink 225/ Mrs. Andrew J- Sink 229 y EARLY LIFE AND ANCESTRY. The following paper written by J. H. Tewksbury was found among' the choice treasures of Captain H. H. Cum- ings and represents the ideal according to which he would gladly fashion his life. Doubtless he had often read and pon- dered it. We place it at the head of these pages : " To be joyous in my work, moderate in my pleasures, charv in my confidences, faithful in my friendships ; to be en- erg'etic but not excitable, enthusiastic but not fanatical ; loyal to the truth as I see it. but ever open-minded to the newer light ; to abhor gush as I would profanity, and to hate cant as I would a lie ; to be careful in my promises, punctual in my engagements, candid with myself and frank with others ; to discourage shams and rejoice in all that is beautiful and true; to do my work and live my life so that neither shall require defense or apology ; to honor no one simply because rich or famous, and despise no one because humble or poor : to be gentle and considerate toward the weak, respectful and yet self-respecting toward the great, courteous to all. obseciuious to none; to seek wisdom from great books and inspiration from good men : to in\-igorate my mind with noble thoughts as I do m_y body with sunshine and fresh air; to prize all sweet human friendships and seek to make at least one home happy; to ha\e charity for the erring, syn"i])athy for the sorrowing, cheer for the despondent ; to be indifferent to none, helpful to some, friendly with all : to leave the world a little better off because of me : and to lea^■e it. when I must, bravely and cheer- fully, with faith in God and good will to all my fellowmen : this shall be mv endeavor durino- the comino- vear." 8 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS Henry Harrison Cumings was born in Monmouth, Illi- nois, December i, 1840. We do not find that any of his an- cestors bore the name Henry Harrison, but we recall that William Henry Harrison had just been elected President of the United States on the Whig- ticket after the most exciting presidential campaign in all our history. The politics of the family may therefore be considered as settled. The religious teachings may also be judged from the fact that the next two sons which came to bless the family were named Charles Elliott and Francis Asbury. Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D. had recently been elected to the editorship of the Western Chris- tian Advocate, and Rev. Francis Asbury was the first and greatest apostle of Methodism on the American continent. Mr. Cumings removed with the family to Madison, Lake County, Ohio, in 1852, the year of the publication of " E^ncle Tom's Cabin " which served to more firmly determine the al- ready aroused sympathies of the " Western Reserve " in be- half of liberty. He worked on his father's farm, attending the district school in the winter. He was also a student in Madison Seminary, and later in the Grand River Institute at Austinburgh which was of considerable prominence at that time. Madison is on the old stage road from Cleveland to Buf- falo, and was a station on the " Underground Railroad," and the Cuniings family must have been deeply interested in its work. Many fugitives from slavery passed through Madison with faces towards the North Star and freedom. Here the George Harris of " Uncle Tom's Cabin " was arrested, only to be rescued at Unionville two or three miles distant. With his staunch Puritan ancestry, Christian home, Sunday school and church privileges, educational opportunities, and the po- litical and reformatory atmosphere by which he was surround- ed, ]\Ir. Cumings, as would be well expected, became at an Benjamin Cumings GENEALOGY ii early age firmly established in the principles uf morality and virtue. He had a well balanced mind, was a good student, read much, and easily assimilated knowledge. He would have been successful in any profession which he might have chosen. Of strong constitution, companionable, a good con- versationalist, kind and accommodating, generous, manly, loyal to truth and duty, he won the approbation, and gained the confidence of a multitude of friends. His high-mindedness and pure ambitions, his progressive spirit, his push and enter- prise, his confident outlook upon the world and readiness to do his part in it, his ceaseless activity won him well-merited scholastic, military, political and business success. His steadi- ness of purpose braced him against being led or surprised into the purely frivolous, unworthy and unmanly. The tracing of genealogies is of great importance in biographical research, and one of the most fascinating studies. There are few persons in America who interest themselves in this subject. We know well that it is not the character of his ancestors but his own character which makes the man. But we also recognize the law of heredity and confidently expect to find an explanation of personal traits and peculiarities in near or remote progenitors, and we are seldom disappointed. Indeed, we are dissatisfied and i)uzzled. if we make a thorough investigation and do not meet with verification of the law of heredity. Something abnormal must have crossed the law and interfered with natural enforcement. Again it is an in- spiration to learn who our ancestors were and what they did. We would not have their rejiutation suft'er by our example. We would imitate their noble and praiseworthy traits of char- acter. We are fortunate in finding so luuch of interest con- cerning the ancestry of the Cumings family. So noble a record must not be lost. It is well worthy of a prominent place in our histor}'. This is one way l)y which a life puts on immor- 12 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS tality and its influence is perpetuated throughout all future ages. The genealogy of the American branch may be found in much greater fulness in the " Genealogical and Personal His- tory of the Allegheny Valley," edited by John W. Jordan, LL. D. The earlier genealogy was compiled by Captain Cum- ings, and came into our hands through the family. We have verified his work from the best available historical sources. Air. Cumings is removed by seven generations from Isaac Cumings, the founder of the American line. The sixth of the line was Lieutenant Benjamin Cumings whose name appears on the muster roll of Captain Reuben Dow's company of minute men at the Lexington alarm and at Bunker Hill. He marched from Hollis. New Hampshire, April 19, 1775. He was one of fifty-three men who remained at Cambridge, and volunteered in the new company, under Captain Reuben Dow, which was assigned to the Alassachusetts regiment, com- manded by Colonel William Prescott. The " History of Hol- lis " states : " Benjamin Cumings enlisted for one year in either the Sixth Company of the First Regiment, or the First Companv of the Third Regiment of the New Hampshire Con- tinental Line, and served in the battles and operations about New York, and at Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey." His son, Major Benjamin Cumings, served in the War of 1812. Charles Cumings, the father of Henry Harrison, was born at Brookline, New Hampshire. September 5, 1814, and moved with his parents from Hollis to Lnionville, Lake County, Ohio, in 1825. At the age of nineteen years, when residing in Unionville. Ohio, he w^as converted and became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church. For several years he was a regular " circuit rider " in Illinois, residing with his first wife and two elder children in Monmouth. \A'ithin a vear after the death of his wife. Emily Amsden, Mrs. Benjamin Cumings GENEALOGY 15 Au£;-iist 14. i8f)i. he left this work through the persuasion of his relatives in Ohio and returned to that state, where he married his second wife, Rebecca Agnes Sullivan, September 2, 1852, and settled on a farm in North Madison, Lake County, continuing his ministerial labors now as a local preacher. About 1876 his eyesight failed so that he gave up preaching, but was always active in church work until the dav of his death. He died in Madison, Ohio, October 4, 1900. Charles Cumings was blessed with eleven children of whom three were by his first wife: Henry Harrison, the sub- ject of our Memoir; Lucy Mehitabel. wife of James H. Bovce — she died in 1898; Charles Elliott, now^ residing in East Brady. Pennsylvania ; Francis Asbury, Madison. Ohio : Jane Rebecca who married Howard A. Atkinson, deceased, resid- ing in Cleveland, Ohio; Benjamin Potter who died in in- fancy; Homer Potter, civil engineer, Painesville, Ohio; Emily Estelle, a deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; Mary Maria, graduate from Oberlin College, teacher of Latin and Greek for eleven years in Ottawa. Illinois, and now filling the same work in Painesville, Ohio ; Nellie Lavinia, educated in music at Oberlin Conservatory, married to Allen N. Benjamin. ]\Iadison. Ohio ; Kate, educated at Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory, married to Rev. Orlando Pershing, Presbyterian pastor at Pueblo, Colorado ; and Edgar Roscoe. graduate from Union College, professor of geology in Indiana State L^niver- sity. The name of Isaac Cumings appears for the first time in Massachusetts. In the records of Essex County, the town clerk of W^atertown made an entry to the efTect that Isaac " Cuming " received from the land grants thirty-five acres of land in 1636. The general tradition held in different branches of the family is that it came directly or through England from Scotland. Similar traditions confirmed by convincing prob- 1 6 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS abilities trace his descent from the family of " Comyn the Red," Lord of Badenock. This family originated in France or, according to other accounts, in Lombardy, from which during or shortly after the fourth century it crossed the Alps and settled in Provence. Later it removed to the Geronde country and thence to the north of France where it founded the town of Cominius. The kin to which Isaac Cumyn, as it is believed, belonged descended from Robertus de Comyn who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066, and was appointed by the King, Farl and Governor of Northum- berland. An uprising of the natives occurred at Durham, Jan- uary 28, 1068-9, ^^'^^ t^^6 Governor and his seven hundred fol- lowers were slain— all save one. Robertus de Comyn was the son of Eustace, Comte de Comyn and Baron of Tousberry, who in his turn was the son of John, Comte de Comyn and Baron of Tousberry. The lat- ter was the son of Baldwin, founder of the house of Blois, and grandson of Baldwin, the distinguished soldier of the cross, and the third in descent from Charles, Due de Ingeheim, fifth son of the Emperor Charlemagne. Robertus at his death left two infant sons, John and William. The latter became Bishop of Durham and Chancellor of King David. John, the elder brother, was killed in the war, leaving a son, William, whose son Richard in 1144 was granted the Castle of Northallerton. He became the progenitor of all the Comyns in Scotland. Richard married Hextilda, the granddaughter of King- Donald Bain, and through this marriage came the claim of his great-grandson, John the Red Comyn, to the throne of Scot- land. William, the son and heir of Richard, became Great- Justiciary of Scotland, and through his marriage with Margaret, only child and heiress of Fergus, ancient Earl of Buchan, he became in his right Earl of Buchan. He acquired the Lordship of Badenock for W^alter, his second son, who. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cumings THE OVERTHROW 19 dying without issue, the Lordship descended to John, his third son. Upon the death of his brother WiUiam. John inherited large possessions. By intermarriage with pow^erful famihes, including the royal families of England and France, the Comyns became the most powerful family in Scotland. By the middle of the tliirteenth century this family included four Earls, one Lord and thirty-two belted Knights. Within seventy years thereafter the great house was utter- ly overthrown. It went down in the revolution which placed Robert Bruce upon the throne of Scotland. John Comyn the Red, Robert Bruce and William of Laniberton were appointed regents of Scotland in 1299. Comyn was the ruling regent in his own right as the heir of Baliol, King of Scotland. Robert Bruce had been appointed to please his party, and im- proved the first favorable occasion to enter into a league with Lamberton to stand by one another in promoting their owai interests. *' Challenged by the King of England with the bond between him and Lamberton, Bruce secretly quitted Lon- don, and on the tenth of February, 1306, met by appointment, in the Church of the Friars Minor at Dunifries, Comyn, whom he slew at the high altar for refusing to join in his plans." Then followed the struggle of the Comyns for vengeance which resulted in their overthrow and dispersion. Many fled to England where they became so poor that they became de- pendents upon the bounty of the English court. They had married into the best families, and at this day their blood circulate through all that is noble in the sister kingdom, in- cluding the numerous and royal descendents of Henry IV. The Earl of Shrewsbury seems to be the representative of the Lord of Badenock who was the head of the family. Charles Cumings II. AS COLLEGE STUDENT— ENLISTMENT. The spring of 1861 found Mr. Cumings a student in Oberlin College, an institution which has always occupied an advanced position on the subject of slavery and the natural and political equality of all men without regard to race or color. There was doubtless no place in all the north where a keener interest was taken in the exciting questions of the day. The great political campaign through which the nation had passed, resulting in the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, engaged the most serious and earnest attention of all. The reported threats of secession on the part of certain southern states furnished the theme of daily discussion among faculty and students. Every student was thoroughly informed by personal examination of the questions involved, and had reached his own conclusion. The college became a school of patriotism. The laws of the college emphatically forbade the organi- zation of military companies of any description. Now. the students, just at this time, recognized the pressing need of a fire company — a new necessity for the better security of the school property and the encouragement of the highest literary attainments. In their loyalty to the college, they determined to form a volunteer fire company. The organization was ac- complished with great enthusiasm, and the largest fire com- pany in Ohio was the result. To secure precision of move- ment when engaged in fighting a fire, they practiced almost daily military evolutions. This was continued for several months, the prospect of fighting (fire?) becoming ever more pressing. Wooden imitations of guns were manufactured, and 24 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS the "Fire Company" was thoroughly drilled in the manual of arms. We are not informed as to the number of times the company was called out to extinguish conflagrations. The col- lege authorities "winked at" these slight innovations; and before the war ended this " Fire Company " furnished four generals besides many officers of lower rank; and the blood of these erstwhile " firemen " was shed on almost every im- portant battlefield of the Great Civil War. When the news of the attack upon Fort Sumter was flashed over the continent, studies in Oberlin College, as in so many of our northern institutions of learning, were neglected — in some cases practically at an end. All thought and con- versation were upon the ominous events of the day, and the probable outcome. To many this was the beginning of an in- terest in political affairs which only increased with passing years. The next evening a public meeting was held in the great church. Three thousand people packed the building. Excitement was at its height, but held well under restraint. A few short, stirring speeches were made. The Marsellaise Hymn was sung by a great choir of two hundred trained voices, accompanied by the great organ and, in the chorus, by the village brass band, while, outside the building, church bells rang and cannon roared. War enthusiasm was at white heat. Two companies were formed and filled with students — the " Fire Company " much in evidence. Their services were offered to the Government on the morning of the following day, and one company was accepted. The other company to which Mr. Cumings belonged was declined as not likely to be needed. How little was known at that time of the magnitude of the task in hand ! It is probably well that it was gradually revealed. The young patriot took up his studies anew with what patience he could command after such a disappointment. But Henry H. Cumings Student at Oberlin College STUDENT LIFE 27 the call for three hundred thousand men was issued in 1862, and he could resist no longer. He returned to his home in Lake County, Ohio, and enlisted in a regiment then being formed and rendezvoused in camp at Cleveland. This regi- ment was mustered into the service as the One Hundred and Fifth Volunteer Infantry. Air. Cumings received a commis- sion of First Lieutenant of Company '* D," most of whose members came from Painesville and vicinity. About this time General Buell was forced back from Middle Tennessee by Gen- eral Bragg, and General Kirby Smith was moving into East- ern Kentucky. The importance of immediate re-enforcements was so pressing that, without arms, the regiment was hurried to the front. Recei\-ing arms and equipment at Covington, Kentucky, the raw recruits were whirled by rail to Lexington and thence towards Richmond. Before reaching their destina- tion, news came announcing the defeat of our forces under General Nelson by Kirby Smith. Thus the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio was hurled into the midst of the conflict. The standing of Mr. Cumings in his college studies was so satisfactory that he maintained his position in his class, and, though in the army at commencement time, was graduated with honor. Ours was not a military nation. Wq had little prepara- tion for war. The regular army was so small that it might, we would almost think, be considered a negligible quantity. The first advantage was on the side of the South. The ablest commanders were there. Arms and ammunition were there. The South had l)een expecting a conflict and had already made preparations. They were roused ; we were not. The North must create armies and discover generals to command them ; must forge weapons, manufacture clothing, build fortifications — do everything almost from the foundation. We had marks- luen capable, in their own way, of handling a gun; but undis- 28 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS ciplined, not accustomed to submit absolutely to authorities, and educated in the arts of peace. They could furnish the raw material out of which armies could be made. But when the call for volunteers came, the response was magnificent. They came from all professions and all ranks : farmers left their fertile acres, day laborers left their jobs, clerks left their counters, bookkeepers left their ledgers, mer- chants left their stores, lawyers left their briefs, doctors left their pills and plasters, ministers left their pulpits, teachers left their schools, mechanics lay down their instruments of labor, peddlers dropped their packs, students closed their books, seminary and college halls were left vacant — such a gathering for an army the world had never seen ! The average of intelligence among our soldiers was very high. When a commander of any of our armies in the field wanted any kind of work done, he had only to call for volun- teers from the line or the ranks and competent men were al- ways found : bridge builders, experts in electricity, it mattered not what. The number of students and scholars in the army was something to excite comment. And studies went on: miscellaneous reading, college studies, special courses. In prisons classes were formed in various branches and taught by experienced teachers. There were societies and debating clubs in regiments and companies with regular meetings held in their tents, and even on the march not wholly neglected. And then there were individual students who spent every leisure hour in useful reading and study. We know one young man, a soldier in the ranks, and but a boy, who, among other subjects, pursued the following wide range: the complete works of Virgil, Greek Testament, Gray's great work on Anatomy — while in the hospital — Phrenology, Stenography, three branches of science, several theological treatises, and Henry H, Cumings Student THE " WAR DIARY " 31 mechanics. He always had one or more books with him whether in camp, field, or hospital. Books were picked up. " confiscated," and everything- in the way was read. Captain Cumings was a great reader of books during his army life, as will be shown later. A " Diary " conscientiously kept furnishes the materials for the most trustworthy history, and withal is a very inter- esting piece of literature. It is the history of an individual living and acting within an en\-ironment which contributes largely toward making him what he is in this world of men and things. Some passages may be cold and mechanical; but others throb with life and burn with passion. Now and then the pen is dipped in the heart's blood and punctuates its thoughts with passages from which the lightnings flash. There, too. are revealed the real battles, those fought beneath a private hat where the true man seeks to reign as king over himself and to be crowned as conqueror, too. The diary is written amidst the whirlwind of events while they are still fresh. There is no chance for mistakes through defective memory. The writer reveals himself as he is — his acts, his thoughts, his hopes, his plans, his ambitions, his disappoint- ments. It is not a complete disclosure; that were an impossi- bility, and even if possible, it were a folly. It would make him a traitor to himself. Even voluntary misstatements or exaggeration of excel- lencies would probably come to light, and thus become an un- intended and unexpected revelation of character. Idle historic reliability of the records of a diary is not, however, to be overestimated. This is evident from the cir- cumstances under which it is written. The entry must be made before the causes, reasons and results can be fully known — except within very narrow limits. Second-hand in- 32 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS formation must be received with still greater caution. Rumors are to be received only as rumors. These causes of error or insufficient statement are to be especially emphasized in the case of diaries written during the excitement of a military campaign. There is little opportunity for careful and critical composition. The tent or the campstool in the field were patrician accommodations for literary effort. But, late at night after a steady march of twenty-four hours with every bone aching; or on the battlefield with the roll of musketry, the roar of cannon, the scream of shell, and the clang of sabre in the ears, and with the din and confusion of the conflict on every side, with only a minute or two to spare, is not most favorable for communion with a diary. And criticisms on the conduct of the campaign or the actions of soldiers, written un- der excitement or disappointment or passion are seldom abso- lutely just. While these and other circumstances weigh against the historic value of such documents, they more per- fectly reveal the person. We mistake,, therefore, when we en- deavor to correct the text of the diary. Read as it is, in blood and under fire, and we get out of it much reliable history, but what is more to our purpose now — we get the man. We shall make free use of the diary of Captain Cum- ings. We do not attempt a full record of his army life, only sufficient for our appreciation. It will not be in all its pages continuous. The omissions will doubtless outnumber the selected portions, but it will be a live record of a live man — and very much alive, too. It should also be recorded to the credit of its author that this diary is remarkable for the conscientiousness displayed in its composition, and its unusual accuracy. H. H. Cumings, Soldier III. THE " HELL-MARCH," AND THE BLOODY BATTLE. The " War Diary " is our chief authority for some inci- dents and facts which refer to the part Captain Cumings took in the Civil War. These are given largely in his own words. An introductory note dated April 9, 1863, tells his purpose: " I have been turning over in my mind for some time the propriety of keeping some record of my thoughts, experiences and the incidents occurring- immediately around me. I at- tempted this once, but for some reason, partly indolence, gave it up. I shall always value the diary and the exercise of writ- ing it if I commence one. Events that will figure in school- boy history to the end of our National existence are transpir- ing around me. My own observations, if preserved, will in future years be of high interest to me, if to no other. So I undertake this labor, thinking to record what I see, hear and think. " A running account of myself since I have been in the field may serve as an introduction. " The first of July, 1862, found me a restless student at Oberlin College. I belonged to the senior class and e-vpected to graduate in the latter part of August. But another call for troops being made, my restlessness increased. I wanted to be off to the field, where my heart had been since the opening of the war. Finally, one morning, I started for home, and received a recruiting commission, dated July 24, 1862, as a second lieutenant. August 12th, I think, I reported in camp. and August 21st, we started for Kentucky. A commission as first lieutenant was issued to me July 25th. Reaching Coving- 36 HENRY HARRISON CUMIN GS ton, Ky., we remained there until paid off, armed and equipped. Proceeded to Lexington, Ky., remained there a few days, marched to assist our forces at Richmond, Ky., the day of the battle at that place, faced about at the Kentucky river, having learned of the disaster to our troops." Then came the terrible march which has few parallels in history, with which the boys of the One Hundred and Fifth, the ninth day after their muster-in, inaugurated their war ex- perience — back to Lexington, then through Versailles, Frank- ford and Shelbyville to Louisville. Says Mr. Cumings : " My experience in the amiy shows me no parallel. The dust was very deep, the weather excessively wai*m, and scarcely any water to be had. Men fell fainting with thirst, heat and fatigue, at every step, blood flowing from nose, mouth and ears." Albion W. Tourgee, in " The Story of the Thousand," calls it "The Hell-March," and says: " It had not rained for many weeks save the shower of the night before, which had hardly reached a mile west of Lexington. The dust lay ankle deep upon the hard, hot, lime- stone pike. The forces that preceded us with their numerous wagons, had raised a cloud which hung over the road, shutting out even the walls and fences on either side. The setting sun shone red and dim through the yellow mass. Each man was weighed down with knapsack and accoutrements. We knew nothing of our destination, or the length of the march before us. Had the knapsacks been burned at the outset, many more would have reached the goal. Men were invisible a few steps away ; near at hand, they could only be distinguished by their voices. There were frequent halts, but no rest. When the column ahead got jammed up on itself, we waited until it straightened out. Sometimes it was a minute, sometimes ten or twentv minutes. The vellow, acrid dust settled on beard THE " HELL MARCH " 37 and hair, got into the eyes and mouth, and burned the parched throat; while the perspiration made muddy channels down every face. " The night fell hot and murky. The dust-cloud shut out the stars. By and by the moon rose; the night grew chill, but still the dust rose in choking clouds. The orders forbade de- tails to leave the road in search of water. ]\Ien were sent in advance, in hope that they might fill the canteens before the w^ells were drained. Long before midnight not a drop re- mained. In spite of orders, a few men were sent out to search for water. It was a strange country. The pools and streams were dry. The wells had been exhausted by those in front, Alany of the people w^ere compelled to haul w-ater from a dis- tance for domestic use. These details returned empty-handed as the others had done. About this time colored men came, one by one, and offered to bring water, to carry guns or knap- sacks — anything, if they could only follow us. Thev were loaded down with canteens and accompanied by a few men started for water. An hour after they returned, staggering under their loads of dripping canteens. Was ever water half so sweet ! Yet we had scarcely begun to know what thirst is. " The march would have been a severe one to seasoned, unencumbered veterans ; to these men, yet foot-sore, galled, and w^eary from their first long march, and weighted down with knapsacks, overcoats, and blankets, in addition to am- munition and accoutrements, it was terrible. After a time, the men ceased to scatter to the roadside when there came a halt. They had no strength to spare, and the roadside was al- most as dusty as the pike. So they merely knelt down in their places, bowed themselves forward to relieve the strain on the straps that galled and cut into the shoulder, and slept. In the moonlight they looked like heaps of dust, or pilgrims fallen asleep at prayer. At the word, they stumbled to their 38 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS feet, sometimes awake, sometimes asleep, and staggered on. The ambulances were soon full. It \vas said, there were wagons somewhere in front in which those who were unable to go farther might be transported. But when a man can go no farther, such provision is of little good. We were the rear of the column ; back of us was only our own rear-guard and the enemy. " lliere were several alarms during the night ; firing, ofif at the left, then at the right, then in the rear. It was probably marauding bands of guerillas, wdio set upon our men in search of \\ater. Once we were stampeded. There had been a longer halt than usual. The dusty fugitives knelt in the road, or were stretched out beside it. There was an uproar at the rear; the sound of galloping hoofs upon the pike. There w^as a cry of ' Rebs ! ' 'Cavalry!' Every sleeping figure sprang sud- denly to life. Men ran over each other, stumbled, sprawled headlong, then rose and fled over the wall into an adjoining field ; across that to a bit of wood. When the pike was clear, a big, gray mule came charging down it, frisking his tail, and making night hideous with his discordant bray. " The foot-sore and exhausted soldiers were with dilTi- culty aroused from sleep. It is little wonder. Within four days they had marched seventy miles, laid in line of battle one night and marched all of another. Every foot was blistered; every muscle was sore. Heavy with sleep, they staggered to their places in the line, the stronger aiding the w-eaker ones. There were moans and curses. Some of the stoutest yesterday were now the faintest. Slowly we dragged our way to our position in the retreating column and stumbled painfully along in the darkness. * * * Men dropped unconsciously from heat and thirst. Water was still scarce. Every well and spring was drained. Men crow^ded about them, pushing, scrambling, often fighting for a few muddy drops. Tormented HARDTACK 39 by heat and thirst, and ahiiost smothered by dust, we dragged through the long hours of that day, bivouacking at night by the roadside, with no water save what was found after a long search in some stagnant pools two miles away. " At one o'clock came the order to move, and we again plodded on, halting every few minutes, the men dropping on their faces in the dust, would be asleep almost before the com- mand was given. When the word came to march, many of them would rise and stagger on, still asleep. That day we marched until eight o'clock at night, and then bivouacked, for the first time since leaving Lexington, in a green field with plenty of good water. The next day, September 5th, a little after noon, we reached the suburbs of Louisville." Then followed several weeks of organization and drill. The regiment was assigned to the brigade of General William R. Terrill, with the Twenty-third and Eighteenth Illinois, and the One Hundred and First Indiana. The general organized a battery of artillery of five Napoleons, one three-inch rifled Parrott, and two twelve-pound howitzers. Mr. Cumings was assigned to the command of one section of two guns. For the first time the soldiers were made acquainted with the " ubiquitous and indestructible hardtack " of which Mr. Tourgee, writing in 1895, says: " A qualitative analysis of one issue of hardtack, made by one of the largest firms with which our government dealt at that time, showed such quantities of pipe-clay or ground white soapstone, as to lead a physician, who saw the results, to declare that thirty days of such food was enough to endanger the life of the strongest man. This adulteration was unques- tionably one of the causes of disease of the alimentary system in the Northern army ; and it is quite possible that this diet of alum and pipeclay is, to a large degree, responsible for the strong showing of intestinal disease among the survivors. 40 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS There is a poetic justice in the idea of a nation being taxed for pensions to soldiers whom it allowed to be poisoned while fighting in its defense." The pursuit of General Bragg began October i. " Through the incompetency or treason of General Buell, he w^as allowed to mass his force and hurl it upon us. After an exceedingly fierce engagement of twenty minutes or a half hour, we were driven back, our guns captured and most of our horses shot. Here, too, we lost nearly one-half of our men. At dark the engagement ceased. The enemy wisely did not renew it in the morning, but now our gallant general must show himself. A strong position was chosen, the army w^as disposed for battle, the wonders of strategy appeared before our eyes. With great edification we watched the admirable disposition of the forces and all the little ct cetcras of the ac- complished soldier, the great strategist, the unequalled dis- ciplinarian. But all this time the enemy was running away tak- ing along the spoil that they had come for. After four or five days' delay we moved slowly so as not to interfere with the enemy in case any untoward accident should delay him. Well this farce ended, we retraced our steps, turned to the left, and the most of the army proceeded to Nashville, Tenn. Our brigade was sent to Mumfordsville, Ky., an important post half way between Louisville and Nashville on the L. & N. R. R. Here 1 was detailed as Post Quartermaster. The brigade remained here a month and was then moved forward. I re- mained as Post O. M. till the first of March when I returned to my regiment now at Murfreesboro, Tenn. Soon after re- turning, our brigade, under command of Col. A. S. Hall, of mv regiment, went out in the direction of Liberty, Tenn., on a scout. While returning and near Milton, thirteen miles from camp, we were attacked by General John H. Morg-an, with three times our number of rebel troops, mostly mounted in- GENERAL BUELL 41 fantry. A column of tlie enemy pushed up past our right to reach our rear and was repulsed by the Eighteenth Illinois. My regiment remained as a support to the artillery, which was gradually falling back to a crest over which our road passed a short distance ahead. Here we finally halted. The right, our regiment, was deployed as skirmishers to the rear and front on the southern side of the road. I was on the front near the road. While we were making this movement the One Hundred and First Indiana and One Hundred and Twenty- third Illinois which had fallen back to a position opposite us, on the other side of the road were vigorously attacked by the enemy wdiose left flank also engaged us. Our regiment was partially flanked, fell back a little, rallied and reinforced by five companies of the Eighteenth Illinois handsomely repulsed the enemy. He then retired and opened a vigorous shelling with a view to dismounting our artillery and shelling us out. Most of his shots fell near me and I had many narrow escapes but ^^•as unhurt. At fi\-e o'clock the enemy withdrew, having sustained heavy loss. The next day we returned to camp and have remained here ever since." The opinion of Captain Cumings as to the generalship of General Buell was far from flattering to that gentleman. He was not alone in uncomplimentary criticisms. Speaking of his pursuit of General Bragg, Mr. Tourgee says : " Two days after Bragg had started on his march Buell telegraphed to the commanding officer at Alurfreesboro : ' Could a good battlefield be chosen about ]\Iurfreesboro, affording position for the flanks and rear of a large army? Report in as much detail as possible in cipher.' " Having thus advertised for a battlefield, he gave the order to concentrate on Nasln-ille. leaving Bragg to pass un- disturbed through a difficult region scarce a score of miles from the left of his armv, and cross the Cumberland at his 42 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS leisure. In this retreat, General Buell displayed his best quali- ties as a commander. His arrangements were perhaps, the most perfect ever made for such a movement. As if on re- view, his army moved in the exact order prescribed for the various divisions and detachments. From Huntsville, Decatur, Bridgeport, Stevenson, Battle Creek, McMinnville, Decherd, and all the scattered intervening posts, the retreat began on schedule time, and was conducted with admirable precision. It was one of the most masterly retreats ever planned, as why should it not be, since there was none to oppose or obstruct, to hasten or hinder? In order to secure its complete success, General Buell asked, with urgent importunity, that Grant would send, with all possible haste, two divisions to swell his army, already greater than that of the enemy from whom he fled, while that enemy romped leisurely down the western slope of the Cumberland mountains into the fertile plains of Kentucky. This was done, and the movement was completed without the least variation from schedule time. Not a man or a wagon was lost, as, indeed, none could well be, unless they strayed from the line of march, since there was no enemy in front or rear for half a hundred miles, save one who was marching away from Nashville as eagerly as Buell was press- ing toward it. '' When his army was finally encamped upon the banks of the Cumberland, Bragg had already crossed that river, and was preparing to fall upon Mumfordsville. Whether the com- mander of the Army of the Ohio stopped in his march to the rear to inspect the battlefield for which he had advertised, near Murfreesboro, or not, is not now ascertainable; but that he still believed that Bragg was merely maturing some fell plan to compass his destruction, there is abundant evi- dence, as also that it required the whole force of the national administration to start him from Nashville on that leisurely BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE 43 march he finally made so close upon the rear of Bragg's army, that the dust of their passage was hardly settled when his ad- vance guard arrived. Only the most consummate skill could have avoided a collision with the army in his front, and in- ferior to him in numbers, or delayed his march long enough to permit the junction of the Confederate commander and his lieutenant in the heart of Kentucky." In the battle of Perry ville, fought October 8, 1862, the One Hundred and Fifth lost one man out of every three. It was their " Baptism of Fire." General Bragg in his account of the engagement says : " For the time engaged, it was the severest and most desperately contested engagement within my knowledge." General McCook declared it to be " the bloodiest battle of modern times for the numbers engaged on our side." Parsons' Battery did some terrible fighting, though Captain Cumings in his journal does not speak of his personal part in the conflict. From other sources we learn that he served his guns with great gallantry. In his account of the battle, at a later date, he says : " I commanded one section composed of two twelve-pounders, and that day my section liad the right of the battery and went into position at the right of the line just at the right of the position that the One Hun- dred and Fifth Ohio soon took. Being on the right we were able to stay by our guns longer than the other detachments of the battery. The last gun fired from the battery was my right gun. which I fired with my own hands. General Terrill was with us. directing the w^orking of the guns during most of the short engagement. General Jackson passed me and spoke to me but a moment before he fell. The enemy took all our guns except one howitzer, which being in the rear did not have time to get into action." Mr. Tourgee speaks of the end: " There was a clang of bayonets. The left companies surged forward to the front of the battery. Cumings, of ours, 44 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS fired the two right gims, double-shotted with canister, full in the faces of the enemy, then almost at the muzzles of the pieces, and with his few remaining men dashed through our ranks to the rear under cover of the smoke. We would have cheered them but were too busy with our own work to give more than a flash of the eye to their gallantry." Two-thirds of all the men of the battery had been killed or wounded. Colonel Porter of the Sixth Tennessee reports : " It was here, at the fence and between it and the point wdiere the bat- tery was in position, that this regiment sustained its greatest loss. Here was the hottest part of the engagement." Lieuten- ant-Colonel Buford, of the Ninth Tennessee, was wounded and two company commanders and the color-bearer killed in the final charge upon the battery. Lieutenant-Colonel W. Frierson, of the Twenty-ninth Tennessee, speaks of the fire as " such a storm of shell, grape and minie balls as no troops scarcely ever before encountered." Elsewhere Captain Cumings gives a brief account of his connection with the battery : " We worked and drilled un- tiringly to get our battery into shape and learn to handle it. Our general spent his leisure time among us instructing us and inspiring us with his enthusiasm. We began to feel confidence in our skill and powers and long for the day when we could show the enemy what we could do with our guns. I may men- tion that we got over all such longing forever during the first campaign. On the first day of October, 1862, we set out from Louisville under General Buell (McCook's Corps) in the direc- tion of Danville, Ky. Our advance began skinnishing almost immediately with the enemy. They fell back steadily, how- ever, until October 8th. We encountered them in force on Chaplin Hill near Perrysville, Ky. Our battery was thrown forward to the extreme left of the line. No reconnaissance in our front was made. A short distance in front of us and ex- Captain H. H. Cumings THE STUDENT INSTINCT 47 tending far to our left was a dense woods which, as the event proved, was full of the enemy. They charged us at once. Their line extending far beyond and wrapping around our left poured down our line an enfilading fire. Our infantry sup- ports gave way ; we did not know enough to leave. We gave the enemy canister as fast as we could fire, but they soon routed us and took all our guns except one which did not get into action. We lost our patron, General Terrill, killed on the field. It was the hottest fire I ever experienced as you may well know when I state that we were under fire only about twenty minutes and in that time two-thirds of all the men of our battery on the field were killed or wounded. The battery was disbanded and I returned to my regiment." Captain Cumings was ever a student, and in a broad sense, and he read with understanding and discrimination. \\> may have frequent occasion to mention this thirst for knowledge. April 14, 1863, he wrote: " Finished ' Mill on the Floss.' It is a smooth, genial, well written work, possessing a considerable degree of humor, a fair insight into character and leaves the reader with puri- fied feelings and purposes, strengthened to virtue and nobility of character. Its conclusion is sad, but I do not know as I would change the plot. Tom Tulliver is an honest, upright, energetic person whom, in spite of his sternness and wilfulness one cannot help admiring. I like his clear, keen, stern, almost harsh sense of justice. It works badly with such exceptional, imaginative people as Maggie, but God give us more of it in the world. The people of the United States, or Northern part at least, have become so squeamish with regard to punishment that vice may almost be said to be at a premium." The next day we find this patriotic entry : " Have fin- ished reading a speech of Hon. H. G. Blake in Congress, in which he pins Vallandingham down finely as well as gets off 48 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS a good deal of general truth for the benefit of Copperheads. I value the speech highly for the resolutions and addresses which it contains. The one from the soldiers of Ohio is full of pungent truth. The soldiers feel deeply the importance of the work in which they are engaged and will not hold him guiltless who tampers and trifles with this sacred cause. A tempest of fiery wrath and indignation is gathering in the heavens. Let skulking traitors in the North beware and hide their diminished heads before the storm bursts upon them in overwhelming fury. A great people is in arms. Their cause is just and sacred. It is our country born upon the battlefields of the revolution and consecrated now anew amid the smoke and thunder of battle.'' IV. THE TULLAHOMA CAMPAIGN. While the One Hiinch'ed and Fifth was at Mumfordsville, Kentucky, Captain Cumings was detached by General W. S. Rosecrans, who had succeeded General Buell in command, and appointed Quartermaster of the Post. March i, 1863, he was relieved and joined his regiment which was now incorporated in the Fourteenth Army Corjjs. commanded by General George H. Thomas, and now in camp near ]\Iurfreesboro. Tennes- see. The battle of Milton was fought on the eighteenth of March, and General John H. Morgan suffered his first defeat. ^^''ednesday, April 22, 1863. — " We began our march to- day soon after daylight. It rained during a greater part of the night, but I had so arranged my blankets that I kept dry. The men's blankets were thrown into the wagons and carried. \\q halted early in the afternoon and made arrangements for camping. Near the place we halted, there was a family in a terrible state of destitution. The mother was dead, the father old, and the children, two boys and a girl, young. The chil- dren were almost absolutely naked and nearly starved. Gen- eral Reynolds placed a guard over the house and sent them some provisions. About dark we moved on some five or six miles to the Liberty and Smithville pike and encamped about midnight two miles northwest of Smithville." Thursday. April 2^^, 1863. — " \\'e were aroused at 5 o'clock a. m. and soon after resumed our march. We traveled in the direction of Liberty on the pike. Colonel ^^'ilder with the mounted troops took roads on our flanks. Li the course of our march we descended Snow Hill a distance of nearly two miles. There seems to be here a range of very high hills or 50 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS mountains, east and south of them there is a high table land, below or west and north a level tract of considerable extent. About noon we reached Liberty where we made a short halt. Just before reaching this place we passed a rebel camp which had been deserted just before in the greatest haste. They had burned one wagon and left considerable loose baggage. After a short halt in Liberty we moved on. When we had proceeded a short distance we saw the flames rising from the burning commissary building and grist mill used by the rebels. After marching two miles we came to camp in a fine grove at the junction of the Lebanon and Murfreesboro pikes. Our camp is a very fine one. It is frequently occupied by the rebels. It is a ridge covered with trees, a river on one side, a creek on the other side and a fine spring near. Near us were confined the rebel prisoners. I went down to see them, had a long con- versation with a rebel captain in Colonel Cluke's regiment of Morgan's command. He is a Kentuckian of wealth, talent, and education, I should say. He participated in the Morgan raid into Kentucky last winter. We compared notes extensive- ly with reference to that expedition. He also participated in the Hartsville affair and gave me an account of that business. From his account I am perfectly satisfied that ordinary vigi- lance would have saved us this disgraceful affair." Monday, April 24, 1863. — " Today we have spent in camp, waiting I su])pose to allow our mounted force time to scour the country. These hills are full of rebels. The guer- rilla forces that we are hunting live mostly from the country and operate very independently, so that they are necessarily very much scattered. We find small squads everywhere. An artillery man last night, while strolling just outside the camp, captured a rebel who was riding boldly up. The day we have spent in bathing, fishing and resting. I attempted to spear fish, but did not succeed. A fine joke was played this evening MARCHING AND CAMPING 51 upon a certain captain of our regiment, Captain Sweet. He and Captain Riker went out to visit the pickets. Wagon Mas- ter Potter heading a small party ' captured them,' Potter and his party being disguised as rebels. According to arrangement Captain Riker soon escaped; Sweet was blindfolded and led about in different directions, made to believe he was taken far from our camp, questioned closely with respect to our forces, etc.. induced to sign a parole of honor to report to Morgan at McMinnville in ten days and even to promise to take the oath of allegiance to the Southern Confederacy when he finally es- caped, jumping off a bank 15 or 20 feet high. The affair fur- nished a good deal of amusement." Saturday, April 25, 1863.—" At 8 o'clock this morning we marched; marched very rapidly and went into camp early in a grove to the left of the pike and ten miles from Lebanon, having marched today fourteen miles. Several rebel wagons loaded with flour were captured today. Just before we camped a lady came from her house to the road and waved her hand- kerchief to us; occasionally indicating her pleasure at seeing us. Such a demonstration is rare, very rare for this country, though there are many professed Unionists here. Very much demonstration on either side cannot be expected where both parties occupy the country successively. We begin to experi- ence some of the inconvenience of warm climates in the great abundance of insects, etc. I awoke this morning feeling very unwell. Had a very severe chill, set in after rising: this was succeeded by nausea and headache, but the vigorous march was the best remedy and night found me feeling quite well. After fixing my bed and shelter I had Pack bring a candle and I read for some time the ' Fortunes of Nigel.' " Sunday, April 26, 1863.—" Marched at 8 o'clock at a moderate rate; when perhaps a mile and a half from Lebanon we passed a house on the porch of which the whole family 52 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS were assembled waving their handkerchiefs and giving other tokens of approbation. They are earnestly Union in their sentiments, and the soldiers as they passed showed their appre- ciation of their favor. Two young ladies of the family, who appeared to be quite beautiful, made me long for a detail as picket or safeguard thereabouts. \Yt passed on through the city and encamped in a lovely camp a mile beyond town. I saw very manv pretty girls who certainly cannot accuse any of us of insensibility to their charms. We made ourselves very comfortable and enjoyed very much the prospect of several clays' sojourn here." Monday, April zy, 1863. — " This morning after lounging about camp I at 9 o'clock went to Lebanon. I amused myself till I o'clock picking up several trinkets of interest, among the rest a copy of 'Peregrine Pickle' by Smollett. I had quite a conver- sation with two citizens, one a merchant, upon the war. They did not dispute my ideas, acknowledged they were well off in the Union, doubted whether they should ever be as well off out of it and earnestly wished the old state of things could be re- stored. They admitted that the South was now in a terrible condition and the future prospects gloomy . How^ much of this was due to the moral effect of the blue blouses and Springfield rifles seen about the streets I will not attempt to say. After returning the captain (Riker) went to town. I laid down to examine and commence reading niy new acquisition, 'Peregrine Pickle.' It seems full of humor. At 4 or S o'clock an order to ' fall in ' suddenly came and in a few minutes we were all ready to move out. We marched back the road we came to- wards Liberty and encamped at about 10 o'clock p. m. about eight miles from Lebanon. I was picket in advance. What's up is the question. We shall see." Saturday, May 30, 1863. — " This evening a meeting of officers was held at Captain Spalding's quarters for the pur- THE CASE OF CAPTAIN SPA ULDING 53 pose of framing- an expression of our feelings towards Cap- tain Canfield who was dismissed from the service on account of the unfortunate capture of a forage train under his com- mand. In our communication to him we expressed our great personal friendshii) and respect, our appreciation of his bravery and patriotism and our regrets for his misfortune. He un- doubtedly erred greatly in his management of that unfortunate expedition ; still we cannot help pitying him and regretting that an officer so gentlemanly, brave and patriotic should have made such a mistake. After our adjournment we proceeded to the major's quarters, the major having recently received a cask of ale, and by sundry hints led him to suspect that we were drv, whereupon three foaming pails of ale quickly dissipated our raging thirst. The major is universally rated a good fel- low ; he has always held that character among us." Sunday, May 31, 1863. — "The day passed quickly; re- mained in camp. This evening Colonel Hall came over in great displeasure at the action of last evening with reference to Captain Canfield. He called upon Captains Riker and Ed- wards and insisted upon the withdrawal of those resolutions, or their reconsideration. After discussing the matter till nearly midnight they adjourned." Monday, June i, i built very strong works and put up an abattis of sharpened stakes in front. We were now in plain sight and within seven hundred yards of the enemy's main line. His skirmishers can- not be more than four hundred and fifty yards distant. " The ground rises from our works to the rear, hence they are no protection to us when a little in rear of our line. I took the precaution, in pitching my tent, which is well to the rear and wholly unprotected, to build a pile of logs two feet high in front of my tent." Tuesday. August 9, 1864. — " As I was passing Company ' C going to my breakfast this morning, a ball came, striking Larry Kelly of that company as he sat over the fire cooking his breakfast. It entered near his collarbone, passing dow^n, in- flicting a mortal wound. Every one in the regiment knew Larry. His dog, too, has been a fixture of the regiment. When leaving Louisville on the Perryville campaign, this dog came bounding to our (Parsons') battery. He immediately ' enlisted for the war,' attaching himself to the battery and to the gain to which Larry belonged. He made it his business to look after the interests of the battery in general and that gun in particular. He distinguished himself by his strict watchful- ness over all the property of the battery when strangers were about and by his excellent judgment in determining who were proper characters to have around. At Perryville he shared in no HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS the dangers and glory of the occasion and received a wound. When the battery was broken up and Larry was returned to the regiment, Watch accompanied him and has ever since fol- lowed this regiment, faithfully, always ' for duty,' always in the front, joining in the sports of the regiment with zest, knowing by instinct apparently when a pig was to be ' foraged,' and following on to catch the ' game ' and receive his share of the prize. Last night, while scouting about our picket line he received a wound which proved mortal. Larry was almost inconsolable, but he had not long to mourn his constant com- panion. This morning a stray shot, such as killed his dog, hit him and gave him a mortal wound. A little later another shot passed through several tents in my company and struck John Fuller of my regiment in the head, killing him instantly." Wednesday, August 17, 1864. — " Made out clothing re- ceipt rolls for May and June combined. The issued of May being only seven pairs of shoes. Rumors that the railroad to our rear is cut at Dalton ; no mail yesterday or today in conse- quence. Enemy firing with artillery, unusual activity among them ; something up. \\q slept last night with cartridge boxes, etc., and shoes on, great vigilance in our camp but no disturb- ance by the ' Johnnies.' Demonstration by our artillery and skirmish line today. There is, along much of the line, a tacit agreement not to fire. After the firing had continued as long as desired, one of the One Hundred and First Lidiana boys, who have no pickets in advance of their main line because of the nearness of the enemy, sprang up and shouted ' Halloo, over there; we are satisfied if you are.' 'Johnny ' answered, ' We will stop firing if you will,' and so peace reigned again." Sunday. August ji, 1864. — " This is the second anniver- sary of the muster-in of our regiment. Two-thirds of the journey is done, the last is begun. Hereafter our unexpired term of service is reckoned by days and months, not years. CAPTAIN CUMINGS SPEAKS OUT iii Two years ag'o today I was mustered into the United States service. I was full of enthusiasm, burning- for military suc- cess and honor. Anything affecting my credit or success in the military line, I was tenderly sensitive to. This spirit lasted some time. I was full of it at Perryville. I did myself credit and deserved the reward of well doing". I was detailed — still I cherished my old chivalric fancies and returned early to my regiment because it was seeing service at the front and I was not, and I was unwilling" that it should appear that I was slow to take any share of the hardships and dangers at the front and was unmindful of the credit there to be won. Here I first en- countered the enmity of a man whose influence was all power- ful in recognizing or ignoring my services. An unfortunate difference, an arbitrary and unjust assumption stoutly resisted, made Colonel Hall my enemy. A pride that would not allow me to toady to his vanity, strengthened his dislike. The conse- Cjuence was, no chance was henceforth allowed me. I served on uncomplainingly, doing my duty faithfully. In the mean- time my claims to promotion were slighted, my eft'orts to finish up unsettled Cjuartermaster business, unsettled through Colonel Hall's interference, were thwarted. Patience began to give way ; I began to feel that here was no place for me. ^ly pride was deeply stung by the matter of promotions and I would have promptly sent in my resignation but to have done so would ha\'e simply gratified my g-reat enemy, and invited my own disgrace ; and besides the state of my accounts made it impossible. So fall came. I would not resign during an active campaign. During the siege of Chattanooga I was unwilling to do so. At length came ^Mission Ridge and that brief but glorious campaign. Here was the time to do that for which I had so long waited a suitable opportunity. But now there seemed a disposition to do me justice. I was recommended for the promotion already my due. I was sent home on recruiting 1 12 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS service as a mark of great favor and flattered somewhat, and so more hopeful, I delayed my resignation. I rejoined my regiment and started on this campaign, now with my promo- tion, but the change in the spirit of the army was striking. No military ambition, no enthusiasm, no high chivalric spirit. Officers and men alike speak of the service as something to be endured. A man exhibiting unusual daring is ridiculed, any military duties not absolutely necessary are shirked. Attention to the points of military etiquette, of soldierly bearing and pride there are not, to any great degree. In short, military life and ser\'ice are turned into drudgery, everything promoting pride and enthusiasm disregarded or discouraged and so far as possible the service of the government made the servitude of the government. Such is the army of today. We may talk as we choose it is not an efficient army and the world may learn it well some of these days. ' Old Rosy,' as the boys de- lighted to call him, could, if allowed his own way with his army, have brought them to that state of discipline that they would have followed him to the gates of hell if he bade. " This campaign will see no such sturdy fighting as wit- nessed the oaks of Chickamauga Creek that September day, because it breathes no such spirit as did the army of * Old Rosy.' Mission Ridge was a tribute to Rosecrans for it was his spirit, still fresh, that scaled those peaks and won the ridge with bayonet point. Today I am here, dissatisfied, discour- aged. I wish I was somewhere, I might almost say, anywhere else. If the campaign were over I would offer my resignation. I cannot endure such base living, such selfishness, such utter absence of the true military spirit. It is useless to attempt either discipline or energy in my command with such a state of affairs. With me, in this regiment, so far as the love of it goes, soldiering ' is played out." I shall endeavor to do my BWfc*' Monument in Memory of the 105th Ohio Infantry READS " HANNAH TH URSTON " 115 duty, that is barely all ; then, worry out the time. I cannot l)lanie myself for this feeling, any other would be impossible to me." \\t know just how Captain Cumings felt when these words were penned. We have been in the same place. To write it out, though it might never be read by another, was a relief. Let him who never had like feelings cast the first word of regret at this personal recital. It needs no apology, no ex- cuse. Everybody doubtless sometime in his life has had sim- ilar experience. To be neglected and ignored when we deserve recognition and appreciation ; to be kept down and see our in- feriors lifted above us ; to be denied personal approval when we have earned and merited public reward; to meet only with disappointment and discouragement ; to suffer from mere prejudice and littleness and revenge; to work hard, to hope, to expect, to strive, to do well, and profit — nothing! this is not for human nature to endure without a pang-, without a word. To resent is the manly part. There are dark days in every human life. To toil on until the heart sweats, and all appar- ently in vain — more than enough ! Rowing up stream, only to be carried down by the current ; climbing the mountain with sweat and agony and bleeding- feet, to find the summit ever more distant; to perform the Sisyphus labor of rolling the huge stone to the top of the hill only to repeat the labor, as it no sooner reaches the top than it comes thundering down again into the valley : no wonder that sometimes the spirit droops, the courage fails, complaint is fairh^ tortured from the un- willing lips. It is not a sign of weakness, but a righteous pro- test against unmanliness and unmannerliness and revengeful- ness and all that is unsoldierlike and small and unmanly and cruel. The greatest men of all the ages have sometimes given wav. ii6 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS But Captain Cumings did not permit this to affect his loyalty to himself, his country, and his duty. He remained a soldier and a man. He did not cringe; he stood upright; he looked men, the world, the stars squarely in the face and that without blinking. Friday, August 26, 1864. — " Finished ' Hannah Thur- ston ' today. I find in it much that I like, something that I dislike. So far as the woman's rights question I fully agree with the author. Woodbury's sturdy individuality and independence of personal habits, I almost approve. I think while one has a right to exercise his own will in the choice of friends, in his domestic arrangements and personal habits, still he must not forget that as a member of society he has duties and obligations ; and while he should in no case yield to an ex- acting public opinion what it has no right to demand, to bow to the usurpations of bigotry and intolerence, he should be per- vaded by that thorough spirit of politeness — of Christianity which will in no case allow the harmony of society to be dis- turbed or the prejudices of others treated rudely, when it can well be avoided. I do not quite like the bitterness of the author's sneers at what may be termed the excrescences of in- ordinate and misguided religious or reformatory zeal. Not but that his blows are well and deservedly dealt, but I imagine sometimes a spirit shows itself in this, that would lead one to suspect that he hated more than the excrescences. I think that I come daily to hate, with a broader and deeper hate, shams of every description, to admire more what is manly in spirit, and delicate and high toned in feeling. Woodbury was a rare man ; Hannah Thurston is I think a possible character. I think I know one somewhat similar. I have always been greatly astonished at this woman's rights movement, not that fools could be found to adopt it but that so many apparently sensible people should tolerate theories so palpably absurd, so BATTLE OF JONESBORO 117 distinctly opposed to every true womanly instinct. I am glad ' Hannah Thurston ' is written. The good will live after it, the evil will I hope destroy itself." Thursday, September i, 1864. — " This morning the men were aroused at 3 o'clock and sat with arms in their hands till daylight, more ' military sagacity.' Then they * lit out ' for forage. Honey, sweet potatoes, mutton, etc., were soon abun- dant. About 10 o'clock the Se\-enty-fifth and Eighty-seventh Indiana returned and we marched, returning to the Jonesboro road, then moving south until we reached the Army of the Ten- nessee, whose batteries were playing lively upon the enemy in position covering Jonesboro. It seems our line had been fomi- ed along the road leading north from Jonesboro. This fore- noon, or more properly today, the First and Second Divisions of our corps pushed forward swinging around their left so as to form their line east and west, facing south at right angles to Howard. We moved in on their left, our left resting on the railroad track, our brigade in reserve for the division, on account of our hard service of last night. Before we came into position, about 3 o'clock, Carlin of the First Division and Morgan of the Second Division, Fourteenth Corps, began to close up on the enemy. When our division was going into position, the firing in their front became quite heavy. The regular brigade charged and broke in confusion ; they were three times repulsed. At length the First and Third Brigades of our division went into line and charged the enemy's works. Colonel Esty, with the Third Brigade carried at once and handsomely the works from which the regular brigade fled in confusion. Gen- eral Baird rode at their head, waving his hat. Two horses were shot under him but he escaped. The First Brigade, too, did their work well. At length, at dark, firing ceased without our brigade opening fire. We rested for the night in the posi- tion that we took as reserve three hundred or four hundred ii8 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS yards from the line of rebel works which our division carried. We suffered Httle loss, only being exposed to the enemy's artil- ler)^ fire and straggling musketry. One artillery shot that passed through my company stunned some of the men and filled our eyes with dirt but did no other harm. The chief cook of my mess was painfully wounded by a fragment of shell. The result of the action has been fine. The enemy were driven from their works, and had daylight lasted, in a short time they would have been routed, as the Fourth and Twenty- third Corps were at dark on their flank and rear and would ha\'e cut oft" their retreat. As it is, Morgan's Division is re- ported by General Baird to have taken several pieces of artil- lery, eight stands of colors and five hundred prisoners. Our division, five stand of colors and five hundred prisoners. Car- lin's Division is reported to have done well. The Fourth Corps is reported to have taken four pieces of artillery. I do not know what Howard's army did. General Baird estimates artillery taken in all at twenty pieces. Our loss is heavy; i,ooo in our corps, greater in killed and wounded probably than the enemy as he fought behind works. Our corps has today been the first to capture a line of w-orks by assault dur- ing the campaign on either side ; heretofore failure has been the uniform result. ' Thomas' pets,' as the rest of the army sneeringiy call our corps because General Thomas usually keeps us in reserve, can be counted on if there is difficult work to be done. The corps that saved the army at Chickamauga is still worthy of its old fame." Captain Cumings with a few others, returning from a foraging expedition, stopped at a house where there were sev- eral girls " with rather pretty faces, slouchy, dirty dresses, some of them chewing tobacco, intensely rebel and contemp- tuous of Yankees, ' lowdowns ' and ' trash ' by which I was led to suppose they meant a class of the inhabitants here. THE LONG CAMPAIGN ENDED 119 Their venom was amusing; their assumption of aristocracy and superiority, contrasting with their language, actions, dress and personal habits still more funny. One young girl told me with what I suppose was meant to be an imitation of the ' true Southern air ' that she had a seven-shooter and she would kill a Yankee before they left she would bet. I laugh- ingly asked her to give me notice before she assumed the of- fensive." Atlanta ^\■as taken the second day of September, and then there was a month of much needed rest. Of this campaign Albion W. Tourgee says : " During these four months the ' Thousand ' was in camp out of the line of fire only fifteen days. Of these, five days was the longest period passed in any one camp. They were eightv-three days directly under fire, either in battle, on the skirmish line, in pursuit of the enemy or engaged in siege operations. The other twenty-three days they were on the march. This terrible stretch of continuous duty in the scorch- ing heat of the Southern summer is well nigh unparalleled. It was followed by a month of rest, from September 3d until October 2nd. One of the men, writing in his journal at the time, declares that no man or officer had ' a change of clothing for fifty-six days! ' " General Baird. who commanded this division of the Anny of the Cumberland, says : " The quiet and heroic patience with which all has been undergone and duty performed, whilst establishing for them the highest reputation, will tend to cause their hardships to be forgotten. Starting without transportation and with only supplies for an expedition of three or six weeks, these things have been required to last for four months, so that often our officers, lying in the dirt and rain for days without shelter, ha\'e been unable to preserve the ordinary cleanliness which is I20 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS essential to good health, and many have broken down for want of proper food. During the greater part of the time our men have lain constantly under the enemy's fire, at every moment liable to be picked ofif ; whilst the sound, not of distant artillery and musketry, but of the closely whistling bullet and bursting shell, has seldom been out of our ears. The rest which they have now and then experienced by the simple cessation of these noises has been very great." It is not possible to overestimate the effect of this cam- paign throughout the whole country. The nation was elec- trified and aflame with excitement. The re-election of Abra- ham Lincoln was assured. Tourgee quotes a passenger on one of the railways running out of New York on the evening of the day on which the news of the capture of Atlanta was received, as saying : " All night long we traveled with the sound of clanging bells, the shouts of rejoicing multitudes in our ears and the glare of bonfires lighting our way. The peo- ple seemed intoxicated with delight. The morning took up, in an intensified form, the rejoicing of the night before. The people from the country had crowded into the towns and cities and all the way to Chicago we saw a populace intoxi- cated with the rapture of long-delayed, but decisive victory. Yet no one uttered a word of vengefulness against the foe ; every one was exulting in the thought of peace and the bless- ing it would bring' to all." Idle President of the United States issued this order: " That on Wednesday, the seventh day of September, com- mencing at the hour of twelve noon, there shall be fired a salute of a hundred guns at the arsenal at Washington, and at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New- port, Ky. ; St. Louis, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Hilton Head and New Berne, or the day after the receipt of the or- der, for the brilliant achievements of the army under command ELECTION ON THE MARCH 121 of A[aj()i--( General Sherman in the State of (korg-ia, and the capture of Atlanta. The Secretary of War will issue direc- tions for the execution of this order." Northern soldiers were often astonished at the white skin of some of the slaves which was an unanswerable, though silent witness to the iniquity of the " institution." " A man just escaped from slavery came in. September 17th, sent through with a guard from the picket line. He is perfectly white, has lightish brown hair, light blue eyes, en- tirely Saxon features and speech : no sign of negro blood that one of us could detect. He said his mother was a dark mulat- to ; his father he supposed to be a white man. I have seen many very light mulattoes and quadroons but never before a case where I could detect no signs of negro blood. This man has spent forty-five years in slavery. I suspect that there is something' unexplained about this man. I do not believe there is a drop of neg'ro blood in his veins. Rode over to the race track General Kilpatrick is having built. The general is look- ing very well ; a man of medium height, strongly built, every movement showing muscle and nerve, broad across the shoul- ders and deep in the chest ; a prominent nose, thin, narrow upper lip; a dangerous looking mouth, light hair, light eyes, ruddy face ; a man of very peculiar face, he impresses one as a man utterly reckless of danger, impulsive, dashing, passionate ; a man, too, of much selfishness, I believe. I was in his room a half hour this evening." Captain Cumings mentions the election on the eleventh day of October. Tourgee describes the process : " At that time, Ohio voted for State officers, on the second Tuesday of October, and the soldiers of the Thousand were still citizens of the Buckeye State, and entitled by law to vote for Governor and State officers. Captain Cumings acted as clerk of the polls and Captain Stambaugh. one of the judges 122 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS of the election, held a haversack, which was used as a ballot box. In previous elections a cracker-box sei*ved that purpose, and in the Presidential election, in November following, it was again restored to duty in that capacity. The clerk used a medicine case, borrowed from the surgeon, for a desk. When the halt was over, the polls w^ere closed and re-opened again on reaching the point selected for the camp. The election passed off very cjuietly. The regiment cast two hundred and eighty- four votes, all for the ' Brough ticket.' John Brough being the Union candidate for Governor, though one man scratched Brough's name off his ticket. So a traveling election for offi- cers of the State of Ohio, was held about five miles beyond Allatoona, and along the road, twelve or fifteen miles toward Kingston, in the State of Georgia." VIII. " MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA." Tt ]ias often been remarked that the tendency of army Hfe, especially when in active service and in the enemy's territory, is toward disregard of ci\'il rights and the sacrechiess of prop- erty : and leads to recklessness and e\'il habits, hard-hearted- ness and cruelty. Tt must 1)e admitted that this often seems to be the case, but we must also insist upon the fact that this is seldom the result of military life except wdiere the tendency existed, to some extent at heart, previous to enlistment. We do well also to make a distinction between soldiers by profes- sion or soldiers of fortune and our citizen soldiers, largely volunteers and serving from high and patriotic motives who. as soon as their work was accomplished, returned to home and family and the peaceful occupations with which they had for- merly been familiar. Not seldom, too, army life leads to a more firm stand in behalf of moralitv and virtue. Those who have been students of soldier life have recognized these ([uite opposite tendencies. When the armv is compelled to draw supplies from the resources of the enemy, there is a strong temptation to reck- lessness, unnecessary harshness, and disregard of human suf- fering, and sometimes disregard of human life. And with so mightv a military host, composed of all kinds of material, it could not be expected otherwise. There would inevitably be more or less of the lawless, don't care, and dare-devil. De- tached duty would often lead away from the usual restraints of authority. Military discipline would be slackened. Crime and crueltv would follow — this, however, confined to the com- parati\'e few. Thus it was that Sherman's foragers acquired the name of " bums." 124 HENRY HARRISON CU MINGS It is greatly to the credit of both the head and the heart of Captain Ciimings that he never could become reconciled to unnecessary destruction of property or unnecessary suffering imposed upon the enemy, or anything insulting or wanton, or pillage for its own sake. He sturdidly set himself against such unsoldierlike conduct. Again and again he refers to the sub- ject in his diary. It hurt him to his heart. The blazing forth of the full heat of his wrath on one occasion told the disgust and horror in which he held a soldier who vilely insulted and outraged a Southern woman. Another incident reveals his real character in a fresh and instructive light. He was in charge of a foraging party. They reached a place which bore the marks of want and poverty ; yet they might have collected something for their fellow comrades. At his command they passed on. But the captain, nearly famished, " begged " a baked sweet potato of an old colored aunty. This was doubt- less a sweet memory with the aged colored saint throughout her life, and we may be sure that she related as long as she lived how that once in the time of the war, with her own hand she placed a baked potato in the very hand of a Union soldier who was " some great officer, too." Captain Cumings expresses his regret at the gambling habits of many of his fellow-officers after pay day. This was a habit greatly to be deplored. Families at home might be suf- fering for want of that which the money gambled away by fathers, brothers and sons, would buy. He was an interested and interesting correspondent, and letters were passing upon every opportunity to and from family and friends. Thus he was in continual touch with home, and the home feelings and thoughts were the guardians of his heart, preserving its freshness and tenderness. But we w ill let the diary speak again : A SPY CAPTURED 125 Wednesday, November 16, 1864. — " Last night a consid- erable portion of Atlanta was burned. The sight was very- grand but I confess I rarely have witnessed sights that caused me more pain. Whatever destruction of property or life or whatever suffering the necessities of war may impose let it be so, as it must be so, but wanton destruction of life or property or needless inhumanity is unchristian, and unworthy of a brave man or the honorable profession of amis. It will surely de- moralize an army and destroy the high spirit and nice sense of honor which should characterize every soldier." Thursday, November 17, 1864. — '* During the day a man w^as arrested in our uniform, circulating among the troops as a spy. He gave very conflicting accounts of himself and finally feigned insanity and general idiocy. He showed semi-indica- tions of the latter by quite overdoing the thing and satisfying every one that there w^as something wrong, not with his head but with his character. Soon after dark he sprang from the ambulance in wdiich he was carried and attempted to escape. One guard bavonetted him, another fired upon him but missed him. He ran off rapidly. Captain Wallace wdio was resting near ran after him. The prisoner stumbled, gathered himself and ran on. but his stumbling brought Captain Wallace upon him when he struck him a terrible blow on the head with the guard of his sabre, bending it almost double and effectually quieting the prisoner. He was brought back, was found thrust through the body with the bayonet, was brought into camp, his wound dressed. Believing himself fatally wounded he con- fessed himself a rebel soldier but declined to reveal his purpose among us, but of this of course there is no question. Sunday, November 20, 1864. — " Were slow in getting out this morning. Finally are under w^ay and getting on well. Took dinner at Shady Dale, the plantation of a very wealthy planter by the name of Samuel Whitefield. His negro quarters 126 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS form a village larger than many southern towns of consider- able pretention. As we reached the place our band struck up. The negroes, mostly women and children, the men having gen- erally gone on with our army, flocked out, fell in behind the band and followed on ; the band soon wheeled out to the road- side, still playing, when the ' wenches ' to the number of twenty-five or thirty indulged in a regular ' hoe down.' The scene occasioned a great deal of merriment among the troops. Camped soon after dark about five miles from Eatontown. Colonel Gleason commanding Second Brigade distinguished himself by stopping at every house where there were women, usually halting the brigade until he had stopped and exhibited himself to his satisfaction. Was sent on picket tonight. Had a wretched night of it as it rained hard all night; the ground was soft and muddy and soon overflowed with water. Was relieved from duty on line about 3 a. m. ; I should have been relieved at 2 a. m., but for the carelessness and inefficiency of the officer getting out the relief. I collected a heap of pine boughs and laid down, drawing my poncho over me. So I slept for a short time but awoke to find the water rising through the brush and wetting me. I then brought rails one-fourth of a mile and built up a more secure perch." Tuesday, November 22, 1864. — " Last night was quite cold, this morning the ground is frozen and it must be very cold for this latitude. We marched early, about daylight. To- day our brigade has the advance of the corps. Marched about eight or ten miles towards Milledgeville and camped soon after dinner on a plantation belonging to Howell Cobb. We spent the afternoon resting and feasting at the expense of the Hon. Howell Cobb. Sorghum syrup of the finest quality that I have seen, large quantities, too, of peanuts, or as they are called here ' goober peas.' were found and the regiment was abundantly supplied with forage. Reports today of the Twentieth Corps DOINGS OF THE MOCK SENATE 127 in Milledgeville, Kilpatrick four miles from Alacon and How- ard on the Macon and Sa\'annah Railroad. Orders received relative to foraging, turning over extra animals, receiving negroes into camp, etc., from both division and corps head- quarters." Wednesday, November 23, 1864. — " Marched about 7 a. m. ; halted for dinner about 12. Company ' H ' distinguished itself by setting fire to the tall grass in which we halted and burning many articles of baggage. Camped about 2 o'clock in the suburbs of Milledgeville. I contented myself with rest- ing, not visiting the city. The men brought in many pikes or lances and huge knives or cleavers found in town. The idea of using such tools for warfare in these days of Spencer and Henry rifles and Colt's revolvers is refreshingly absurd. Cap- tain Braden who was in town happened in the Senate chamber of the Capitol as a mock senate of officers, mostly belonging to the Twentieth Corps was in session. Strange metamorphoses were visible. Officers noted for their conservative character, under the inspiration of the ideas that Oglethorpe, Jasper, DeKalb, or other counties were looking to them for the advo- cacy of their interests became the most voracious ' fire eaters.' The Yankees, that restless, incjuisitive, swindling and vulgar tribe, received an amount of abuse not unparalleled perhaps in those halls, but astonishing in view of the number of repre- sentatives present. Various papers, bills, bonds, etc., lacking the signature of the Governor were found. Strong complaints were made against the Governor for his treatment of the busi- ness of the Legislative Assembly. Finally the matter was re- ferred to a committee of one to look up the Governor and have these matters attended to. On motion General Kilpatrick was appointed that committee. After a season of the most boister- ous fun a courier entered shouting, ' The Yankees are coming,' and the entire body precipitately took to their heels. 128 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS Thursday, November 24, 1864. — " Visited the city of Mihedgeville this morning. Was in the State House. Found here a fine hbrary which is being very badly used. I am very sorry to see such collections of books and documents disturbed. This afternoon rode over town with Captain Wilcox. Called at General Kilpatrick's headquarters. Had a pleasant visit with Captain Harry Day. Learned much of past operations on the right during this campaign and something of proposed operations for the future. Kilpatrick starts this evening on an expedition, proposing to cut the railroad between Augusta and Millen, and if possible liberate our prisoners at Millen. General Kilpatrick's chief desire I thought was to get an early start and keep Wheeler in his rear or on his flank. The State House looks very well, though small at a distance, but upon approaching, the effect is spoiled by remarking the fact that in- stead of stone the building is brick, plastered and marked to imitate stone and showing now large patches of bare brick from which the motar is fallen. A regiment or two was camped in the park, and of course it could not be expected to look as well as usual, but it was ' cluttered up ' with several shabby build- ings. The executive mansion built in the same manner was a large square fine looking building surrounded by respectable grounds which in appearance compared very unfavorably with the grounds of private residences in the vicinity. On the whole I was disappointed that the people of Georgia have shown no more pride in their state buildings. Ohio is immensely ahead." Monday, November 28, 1864. — " Marched at daylight and soon made the five miles to Rocky Comfort Creek, one mile from Louisville. Here the bridge was burned and we were delayed till noon before we could cross, then crossing we halted two hours, just outside of Louisville. No guards were stationed in town. General Baird, who should have at- tended to the matter, was busy at the creek, and stragglers IJILD SPORT 129 from the division pillaged the town in a most disgracefnl man- ner. The town was partially burned, one house having been fired, as I learned, because the woman owning it spat in our soldiers' faces and otherwise conducted herself unbecomingly. This fire extended to two or three other houses. The climax was finally reached by a soldier of the Eighty-seventh Indiana who, while the column was passing through the town, fired his gun at a crowd of negro women, mortally wounding one and wounding another, how badly I could not learn. The woman the worst wounded, we passed before she had been removed, as we followed the Eighty-seventh in column. Her little child of two or three years, stood over her screaming with fright and grief. It was a pitiful sight indeed. The soldier who did the shooting. I understand, offers as his excuse, that by mistake in taking arms from the stack he took another man's gun, a loaded one. his own being empty, that he snapped the piece to frighten the negroes, supposing it unloaded. I hope for the honor of humanity that it is so. At this even, it is awful. I am sick, utterly disgusted with the lawlessness I cannot but see increasing in our army. At this rate we shall soon merit the charges our enemies have so long and so falsely made. Camped one mile and a half from Louisville on the Waynesboro road." Still on the way " from Atlanta to the sea." The first day of December is Captain Cumings' twenty-fourth birthday. He writes : " Visited Captain Day at Kilpatrick's headquarters this evening, and took part in a piece of wild sport in which the general and his staif were engaged. A party headed by the adjutant-general were fired upon from the house occupied by the general as headquarters, by the general and part of his staff^ using balls of cotton yarn for missiles ; we returned the fire; the enemy made a sally, were repulsed; we charged the house with great gallantry, but were received with heavy vol- I30 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS leys of shelled corn which drove us back in confusion. Rally- ing and sending forward the mustering officer on his hands and feet as a skirmisher, a second assault was made. The door was closed but quickly forced open; the house was entered; then followed a hand to hand fight with the garrison headed by the general. Combatants were quickly rolling in a heap on the floor, the general behaving with his usual gallantry but, I fear, receiving more than his share of knocks. Above all his voice rose, 'Turn their right, Hays; kill Day,' etc. At length, I record it with regret, the assailants yielded, the garrison held the house, but the assailants went off with a yell of defiance, game to the last." On December the /th, the " War Diary " says : " Our foragers brought in little and our men would have fared badly but for an issue that was made of one day's rations of hard bread, the first, save once a single box, to the regiment since leaving Atlanta. Three days' coffee and sugar, too, were issued." Two days later: " Had a nap of two hours which greatly refreshed me this morning. Constant marching night and day tells greatly. I was well nigh ' played out ' this morning. Went to the river, visited a landing, the old fort, Fort Greene, I think. Here were only the remains of an old ditch and earth wall. It covers the town and landing. I also visited the old Lutheran church, one hundred years old, used by the British during the Revolu- tionary War as a hospital. It is built in the style of those times, and for its associations as well as in itself is an object of great interest. The town of Ebenezer is very old, was founded about one hundred and thirty years ago, founded by a colony of Ger- men Lutherans, Salzburghers, and for a time was quite a flourishing colony, but from the infertility of the soil and other causes has long since gone to decav. The old church and one REDUCED RATIONS 131 or two old houses are all that is left. It is now the best place in which to read (joldsmith's ' Deserted Village ' that I have ever seen. Rows of fine old cedars mark the location of the streets. Here and there shade trees, shrubs and exotics mark the location of the houses. I spent a pleasant half hour in wandering over the ground and indulging my fancy. Marched about 1 1 a. m. taking a road to the right which after a march of six or seven miles brought us back to the main road and to camp about dark and three or four miles nearer to Savannah. All day and a part of last night the firing of heavy guns had been incessant in the direction of Savannah, supposed to be from our fleet in the harbor. This evening the enemy is reported as holding a position on our road thirteen miles this side of Savannah. We suffered a good deal today from hun- ger. There is little of subsistence to be had from this country and our generals do not see fit to draw much from our supply trains. This evening, however, we got up such an ado over the matter that an issue of hard bread and bacon was made. I found myself very weak and quite ill today from want of food and rest, and on account of hard work. Ordered for picket duty but relieved at brigade headquarters, greatly to my satis- faction. I hope great things from tonight's rest. The weather is colder today though not uncomfortable." Saturday. December jo, 1864. — " The brigade was camp- ed on the railroad where we crossed. Colonel Gleason man- aged to find a swamp and thicket to put us in, although it must have been a work of great difficulty, since most of the land in the \icinit}' of camp was splendid for camping purposes. Fir- ing- at Sa\annah heavy today. At writing of this, morning of Sunday the 1 ith, the firing at Savannah is very heavy, both artillery and musketry, and no doubt a great battle is being fought. Was sent on picket tonight, picketed railroad towards Sa\annah. Rained all night, of course. 132 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS Sunday, December ii, 1864. — "Was not relieved from picket till I o'clock p. m. About noon the enemy's cavalry ran into our pickets in various directions. None of them troubled us. About I 130 p. m. our division marched. Went into camp, after marching three or four miles, on the Savannah road nine miles from Savannah. Blakesly came in with a quantity of rice and peanuts which he captured on an island in the Savan- nah River. He reports quantities of flour concealed in a swamp over there which, as there were but two of them on the island with one gun, he did not feel prudent to enter. Organized a squad of ten men under Sergeant Brown of Company ' F ' to visit the opposite shore of the river in the morning for forage." ^londay, December 12, 1864. — " Brown's party took an early start. While afterwards Captain Wilcox with a detach- ment went ofif for forage. Turned over all extra animals, in- cluding those used by mounted foragers. Heavy firing as usual today at the front. Brown and Captain Wilcox both returned unsuccessful. Brown failed to get across the river on account of impossibility of getting boats. The gunboat up the river attempted to come down this morning with two transports but was driven back by one of our batteries and one of the trans- ports captured. Said to be loaded with commissary supplies. Moved camp one-half mile south, our regiment only, to cover division headquarters. Various reports of communication with our fleet, of whose truth I know nothing." Tuesday, December 13, 1864. — " Marched about 7 a. m. ; moved a distance of seven miles to the front and right ; went in- to position just south of the Central R. R. six miles from Savannah. Camped by regiments in echelon faced to rear to cover our army. Heavy firing south towards the Ogeechee along the line. Issue of full rations, coffee, sugar, bacon and hard bread." ON A FORAGING EXPEDITION 133 Wednesday. December 14. 1864. — "Official announce- ment from General Sherman of the successful storming of Fort Alc.Vllister at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon by the Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps ; armament and garrison cap- tured. This opens full communication with our fleet under Admirals Farragut and Porter and with General Foster's army. This is glorious news. The reports that our prisoners in Savannah have been forced by the enemy to take up arms for them or starve, are confirmed by many of our men who have deserted after being compelled to join the rebel ranks. This conduct of the enemy is infamous, but it will do them no good; it is astonishing that obvious considerations of policy should not prevent it. They must indeed be ruled by the insanity of despair. Had the great satisfaction of a bath and change of clothing today. Mail sent out this evening; sent a short letter home." Thursday, December 15, 1864. — "Mail made up today; sent a long letter to mother. Rations in our mess quite ' play- ed.' Rode over with Captain Braden to the Savannah River to get rice if possible. Spent most of the afternoon trying to reach Battery ' C,' First Ohio Artillery, but could not make our way through the rice swamps. I once nearly lost my horse trying to cross a sluice ; failed finally to reach the battery ; learned that Captain Gary has recently been captured by the enemy; got about a peck of rice." Friday, December 16, 1864. — " Started at about 7 a. m. on a foraging expedition, the forage train of our corps under escort of our brigade. ]\Iade a rapid march in a round about course to the Ogeechee River at the bridge just above the Gulf R. R. bridge. We traveled far out of our course to avoid the fire of rebel batteries which cannonaded part of the direct road. While passing through the Seventeenth Army Corps saw a general officer, said to be Major-General Frank P. Blair, Jr. 134 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS I have never seen General Blair before but he looks worthy of his peculiar reputation. Encamped about a mile and a half west of the Ogeechee near General Kilpatrick's headquarters. Here at the general's headquarters I was furnished with a fine supper which, as I had little breakfast, no dinner and a small allowance of food for several days, was fully appreciated. At the crossing of the Ogeechee there were two dispatch boats, the first arrival at this landing, which will be the landing for our supplies. Transports will soon be up and this semi-starvation will cease. From papers and other sources we received our first news from the north for nearly six weeks. A large mail came up on these transports. We shall not get ours though until we return." Saturday, December 17, 1864. — " Marched at 6 a. m., moving rapidly all day, marching in a manner that a little common sense would teach a man to avoid. The men have had little food ; yesterday they finished their scanty rations ; some went supperless to bed ; very few had any breakfast and yet they were marched twenty-five miles today, rarely halting to rest, but marching at a forced rate till near night, when we halted at Mcintosh or Station No. 3, Liberty county. I never before saw the regiment straggle so badly or heard so much swearing. However, a full supper of sweet potatoes and fresh meat and a night's sleep set me and us all right." Savannah was evacuated December 21st and our troops took possession of the city. A staff-oflicer of General Sherman sums up the results of the campaign as follows : " The army marched over three hundred miles in twenty- four da3'S directly through the heart of Georgia, and reached the sea with subsistence trains almost unbroken. In the entire command, five officers and fifty-eight men were killed, thirteen officers and two hundred and thirty-two men wounded, and one SUMMING UP RESULTS 135 officer and two hundred and fifty-eig-ht men missing, making a total list of casualties of but nineteen commissioned officers and five hundred and forty-eight enlisted men, or five hundred and sixty-seven of all ranks. Seventy-seven officers and twelve iiundred and sixty-one men of the Confederate army, or thir- teen hundred and thirty-eight in all were made prisoners. Ten thousand negroes left the plantations of their former masters and accompanied the column when it reached Savannah, with- out taking note of thousands more who joined the anny, but from various causes had to leave it at different points. Over twenty thousand bales of cotton were burned, besides the twenty-five thousand captured at Savannah. Thirteen thous- and head of beef cattle, nine million five hundred thousand pounds of corn, and ten million five hundred thousand of fod- der, were taken from the country, and issued to the troops and animals. The men lived mostly on sheep, hogs, turkeys, geese, chickens, sweet potatoes, and rice, gathered by the foragers from the plantations along the route of each day's march. Sixty thousand men, taking merely of the surplus which fell in their way as they marched rapidly on the main roads, subsisted for three weeks in the very country where the Union prisoners at Andersonville were starved to death or idiocy. Five thous- and horses and four thousand mules were impressed for the cavalry and trains. Three hundred and twenty miles of rail- road were destroyed, and the last remaining links of communi- cation between the Confederate armies in Virginia and the West effectually severed, by burning every tie, twisting every rail wdiile heated red hot over the flaming piles of ties, and lay- ing in ruin every depot, engine house, repair shop, water tank and turn-table. " From the time that the army left Atlanta, until it arrived before Savannah, not one word of intelligence was received by the government or people except through the Confederate 136 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS newspapers, of its whereabouts, movements or fate, and it was not until Sherman had emerged from the region lying between Augusta and Macon, and reached Milton, that the authorities and the press of the Confederacy were able to make up their minds as to the direction of his march. " Marched in four columns, on a front of thirty miles, each column masked in all directions by clouds of skirmishers, Sherman was enabled to continue till the last to menace so many points, each in such force that it was impossible for the enemy to decide whether Augusta, Macon, or Savannah, were his immediate objective ; the Gulf or the Atlantic his destina- tion ; the Flint, the Oconee, the Ogeechee, or the Savannah his route ; or what his ulterior design." This is what Sherman himself says in his report of the army he commanded, of which our Thousand — long since no more a thousand — was a part : " As to the rank and file, they seem so full of confidence in themselves, that I doubt if they want a compliment from me; but I must do them the justice to say that, whether called on to fight, to march, to wade streams, to make roads, clear out ob- structions, build bridges, make ' corduroy,' or tear up railroads, they have done it with alacrity and a degree of cheerfulness un- surpassed. A little loose in foraging, they ' did some things they ought not to have done.' yet, on the wdiole, they have sup- plied the wants of the army with as little violence as could be expected, and as little loss as I calculated. Some of these for- aging parties had encounters with the enemy which would in ordinary times rank as respectable battles. *' The behavior of our troops in Savannah has been so quiet, so perfect, that I take it as the best evidence of discipline and true courage. Never was a hostile city, filled with women SUMMING UP RESULTS 137 and children, occupied by a large army with less disorder, or more system, order and good government. The same general and generous spirit of confidence and good feeling prevades the army which it has ever afforded me especial pleasure to re- port on former occasions." IX. FROM SAVANNAH NORTHWARD AND HOME. A few brief quotations we give without date. They are examples of average every day occurrences during this memor- able march which followed : " No drill today on account of rain. Lieutenant King of Battery ' C,' First Ohio Volunteer Artillery, sent over some horses for Captain Wilcox and myself and an invitation to come over and help eat a load of oysters. Went. Ate oysters for six hours, smoking and visiting between spells. Met a Lieutenant Nicklin, adjutant artillery brigade. Twentieth Army Corps. Returned home and to bed. " Had a very lonesome day of it. The rain which was so violent yesterday has ceased. Read and wrote. Went up to the resen^e and spent the evening playing chess with Captain Wilcox by moon and fire light. Was beaten two games out of three. Resorted to every possible loafer's shift and finally wore away the day till 9 p. m. at which hour I turned in. Slept cold all night. " Saturday evening last I notified Scoville that until fur- ther orders he would be placed on duty each alternate day and when off duty would not be allowed to leave camp, in punish- ment for repeatedly absenting himself from camp without per- mission, for keeping himself constantly drunk and unfit for duty when he could be found, and finally for his absence from his company when they were on picket for two days, eight miles from camp last ^veek. Scoville is a hard boy, badly brought up, badly begotten in the first place. He has many good qualities I40 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS and might perhaps be made something of, but he seems to be entirely a creature of impulse, simply an animal, very little of reason or judgment about the fellow. I have been very lenient with him, passing over many offenses, punishing others lightly, hoping to finally arouse some pride and self-respect in him, with poor success, I sometimes fear. I do not know that there is any more successful way than punishing him regularly and severely for each offense, calculating thus to restrain him as far as possible, with no hope of doing the fellow^ any particular good. " Worked on ordnance returns in the evening. While busy with these I was agreeably interrupted by a visit from Captain Harry Day. He came over to spend the night with me. Sent down for Captain Wilcox and we spent the night till midnight in talking and smoking, the universal accompaniment of all social meetings in the army. Finally retiring we still talked till at length we suspended for a short sleep before day- light. I enjoyed this and there are few whose company I en- joy more than his. We discussed at full length the peculiar notions entertained at Alma Mater and found ourselves very nearly agreeing that we did not believe in them at all; that they are based on a false idea of life and men; that their re- ligion is theoretical, not practical ; that he who accepts it is apt to overlook the important part of all excellence, works or fruit, and waste his time and abilities over mysticisms and imaginary excellences while the great work of human good and happiness is untouched. " Harry Day left about 9 a. m. I went to town with him; learned that Fort Fisher is taken. Butler stock is very low. He has no nerve or something else ; at all event it is generally believed that Fort Fisher should have been taken by Butler ; and the abandonment of the expedition was a source of great morti- fication. I think our army would have run over the fort or left Captain H. H. Cunnings l3^ JASPER SPRING 143 a good many men in its front before we would have hauled off. It is now reported that General Ord, upon his appointment to the command of the army of the James, returned to the task, and that General Terry with two thousand picked men carried the work by assault, losing- seven hundred, capturing one thous- and seven hundred and eighty prisoners beside wounded, sick, etc. This seems hardly probable although the two thousand men composing the assaulting party embraced only the main charging column, not the supports. Everybody is joyful over the news and feels that at least the stain of Butler's fiasco is wiped off. Various movements of troops are reported. " Halting at a place about two miles from Savannah, near the celebrated Jasper spring, I visited it with Captain Wilcox and drank of its waters. This was the spot where during the Revolutionary War a party of British guarding some Whig prisoners whom they were taking into Savannah for execution halted to rest. Sergeant Jasper, who afterwards fell at the siege of Savannah and who made his name immortal in the de- fence of Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor, learning of this party of prisoners and their guards, witli another bold spirit like himself, Newton, determined to release his friends. Fol- low^ing up the party till they halted and stacked arms at this point, save one sentinel who guarded the prisoners, they stole up on them, shot the sentinel and rushing up obtained posses- sion of the arms and thus compelled the surrender of the guard. As I sat on a stump near the spring and looked at the old trees that so long ago spread their branches above these gallant men I could almost imagine the scene renewed before my eyes. ^^'hat a sh.ame that the libert}- and country fought for by these brave men should be so ruthlesslv thrown aside by the mis- guided people of this country; that the dear old flag they fought to sustain, should be insulted, despised, assaulted by the very men whose every glorious memory and association. 144 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS whose prosperity, happiness and future are bound up in it. Alas, the basest of all sins is ingratitude and the man whose soul is full of it stops at no crime, is moved by no recollections. Jasper's spring should be a shrine before whose sacred associa- tions, bowing in humility, the traitors to freedom today should beseech their Maker to pardon their sins against him and against humanity and give them of that lofty disinterestedness, that magnanimity of soul, that love of the right and of human freedom which has made the name of Sergeant Jasper immor- tal. " A huge rattlesnake was caught this morning by one of Company ' E's ' men. Putting his head out of a hole on their ground, two bayonets were at once thrust through his neck. He was pulled out and found to be five or six feet long, had twelve rattles. I pushed open his mouth and found a pair of immense fangs. Anything for an excitement. I presume Bar- num rarely entices a larger crowd to see his living and pre- served curiosities than flocked to inspect his snakeship. I fear that his remains hardly received the treatment that his royal character and size demanded. Some one soon pulled off his rattles, someone else took his skin, and a third enterprising genius extracted a half pint of oil from his fat." Wednesday, January 25, 1865. — "About one and one- half miles north we took a road to the right and after march- ing a mile or two halted and camped near a plantation and lum- ber yard, McLeods" Brothers, I think. Here was an abundance of sawed timber which made excellent fire wood. At the house were three or four men I was told, about the premises, a quant- ity of syrup, wine and many articles for household use, also a fine sabre, a case of muskets, ammunition and other supplies. The roads had been ])ad]y blockaded in the neighborhood; ap- pearances were decidedly against the good people thereabouts, consequently the men foraged ' liberally.' Fresh meat, sweet BURNING PITCH 145 potatoes, syrup and other dainties were plentiful about camp. The old lady of the house near camp was a hot rebel and, as the men were filling canteens with syrup and foraging generally, she fought them right and left, wishing that she had a revolver and in default using her fists, to the great delight of the men who skirmished with her, and the lookers on. She cursed them roundly and afforded a vast deal of amusement to the soldiers without accomplishing what she might easily have done by treating the soldiers as becomes a lady. Strange that these people cannot realize their helplessness, when an enemy's army is camped about them and submit quietly without attempting an exhibition of hostility which is contemptible and foolish un- der the circumstances and only serves to spur on the soldiers to strip them entirely. A small mail today. Letter from father who exhorts me against the excessive use of tobacco and bad habits in general." Thursday, January 26, 1865. — " We are very much an- noyed by a sharp cutting wind and by the smoke of burning pitch pine along a portion of today's march ; the woods were on fire, the thick black smoke was suffocating. Camp is almost unendurable from the same cause. As soon as fires are builded the air is thick with the black pitchy soot or lamp black. A person's face and hands soon become coated until he is almost as black as the negroes who follow the column. Soap will hardly remove it for it works through the pores of the skin. It must be very wholesome for consumptively disposed persons. I do not enjoy it at all ; my lips are badly chapped, my eyes nearly smoked blind, and I am dirty all the time." Friday, January 27, 1865. — *' Received orders to be ready to move at 9 a. m. unless further orders were received. Re- ceived no further orders and were in readiness to move at the hour but did not move ; spent the time tediously waiting. The wind blew strongly, the air was thick with the black pitch 10 146 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS smoke filling the eyes, turning the skin almost instantly to the color of coal burners, so that it would have puzzled a person to have told the original complexion of any one of us. Once in an hour or so some one of the officers would take it into his head to stir up his neighbors by peltmg them with pine cones and a battle would ensue which would draw in all the officers in the regiment; no one would be allowed to sleep or take any comfort." About 12 130 the welcome order was given and with red and weeping eyes and with smutty faces we were soon on the march. In a few minutes we passed through the little county town of Springfield, the county seat of Effingham county, a little village that may have contained one hundred or two hundred inhabitants, but in which I noticed but one family now. Several of the houses have been burned, some pulled down by the soldiers for material for quarters and for fuel. The fences were mostly taken for the same purpose. Troops were camped all about. I noticed the headquarters of General Davis and Brevet Brigadier-General Buell commanding pon- tonieres. The family which I noticed were said to be Union in sentiment. One member, a young lady, who was pointed out to me, lost a brother early in the war who was hung by the rebels just here in front of his house because of his loyalty to the United States government. I noticed that the property of the family was well protected, guards being stationed over everything." Tuesdav, February 7, 1865.—" Marched at 6 o'clock this morning just as dav began to break. It rained all last night and wa^s raining this morning. W'e marched for three miles through the worst swamp I ever saw, mud ^-ar^'ing from two to six inches deep, with holes or mires, where a man would settle until he got out. Through this terrible mud and the rain we trudged on till dry ground blessed our sight at last. We then halted an hour or two, swallowed hot coft'ee, smoked THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA 147 our pipes and jogged along- reflecting upon the beauties of campaigning in swamps during a winter's storm in this coun- try. Passed through what had been the village of Robertsville, but which was now only a few acres of ruins. I judged from these that the village was rather flourishing until the advent of the Yankees. Took the Brighton road. Passed the ruins of wdiat, judging from grounds, must have been two splendid residences, both burned and the grounds mutilated ; reached Brighton, entirely burned save one small storehouse used by one of our quartermasters, which accounts for its still standing. It will be apt to take fire upon being deserted by the quarter- master. Camped just beyond Brighton." Wednesday, February 8, 1865. — " I saw only one house standing" on today's march, besides churches and negro quar- ters, and that was occupied by a poor widow and family. A spirit of relentless vengeance seems to possess the men. Never before have I seen such a spirit in this army. It is the result of a conviction that South Carolina is pre-eminently the author of the war of the rebellion, that it contains nothing but relent- less enemies and that it deserves summary punishment. The tone of recent South Carolina newspapers has inflamed this feeling by defiant editorials, assertions of a determination to submit to nothing but independence or extermination. At every burning house that I passed I heard shouts from the men of ' extermination or independence.' The invaders will hear the crack of the guerillas' rifle in every swamp and from behind ever\' co\-ert. * South Carolina means to fight,' and so the dreadful devastation goes on. I can appreciate the feelings of the army. If any State is to be made an example, South Carolina is that State, I think, yet I am sorry to see such work. If the effects of such vengeance could be confined to the guilty I should care less, luit how much needless, useless suffering will result. I am not satisfied either with the policy of this busi- 148 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS ness. I fear that instead of subduing, it will render desper- ate the misguided men who are fighting us. If I were satisfied that true military policy demanded it, I would not permit my- self a regret. At the plantation of a Mr. J. G. Lawton I res- cued from the flames a copy of Sidney Smith's works which I shall carry along and read. I greatly like such of his essays and writings as I have read. For some days I have devoted my leisure time to Carlyle's ' Sartor Resartus,' ' Past and Pres- ent ' and others of his works. I find myself working into the spirit and peculiar style of Carlyle and my interest in his writ- ings increasing. While halted at Lawton's plantation, the band played several pieces and as usual the negroes, great and small, flocked out and engaged in a dance, greatly to the diver- sion of the crowTl. One little negro of perhaps twelve years of age danced very finely, better than most of the professionals that I have seen, better because so natural and spontaneous. The organ or * bump ' of music must nearly cover the negro's cranium, if phrenology is a science." Thursday, February 9, 1865. — " Marched early, made a long march, camping near a Captain Peebles' plantation be- tween Irvinton and Barnwell about eighteen miles from Barn- well. The same destruction of property as usual. I under- stand the houses about Irvinton were burned before the column was past. If so I know of but two houses left standing so far since we entered South Carolina, and I have no evidence that they still stand. Tht men today found large quantities of hens along the line of march. Almost every man had three or four davs' supplv slung on his bayonet. The day and nig'ht are suited to Ohio at this season of the year." Friday, February 10, 1865. — " I saw while passing along the street a handsome young lady, with blue eyes, straight light brown hair and fair complexion, standing- between two negro girls an arm around each. Surprised I stopped and inquired if WONDER AND PERPLEXITY OF NEGROES 149 she was a iiiulallo cind a slave. She tukl nie she was. Kxaniin- inj;- closely 1 could not detect a single indication of negro blood. To satisfy myself I went around to the negro quarters and saw her mother, a light mulatto woman hut plainly showing negro blood. I insisted that this white girl was not her daughter but she stoutly asserted that she was. I suggested that she might have l)een placed in her arms to raise as her daughter for con- venience but this was denied. The mother told me that her mother was a mulatto and her father a white man of the Bow- man family (she is from Beaufort Island) and her daughter is the offspring of one of the Barnwells. I could hardly l)e- lie\e that the boasting and boasted 'chivalry' would hold in slavery such a fine looking woman as this. 1 was told that the girl's father had often tried to buy her but could not; a re- deeming feature, at least." Wednesday, February 15, 1865. — '* The negroes regard us with wonder and perplexity, unable to conclude wdiether w'e are friends or not. Some of them suffer much at the hands of our stragglers. Their masters have told them all sort of tales about us, as for example, that we w'ould kill all of their children and that we would use them as beasts of burden, harnessing them to our wagons and killing them upon the smallest pretext. Still the most of them manifest such delight as only an African can at sight of our troops. In Barnwell and at other places negroes have often told me of their assisting our prisoners both while escaping and while in prison. One old negro told me of their women cooking up from their scanty supplies large quantities of ' pone ' for parties of our prisoners near Branch- ville. The negroes, in spite of all the ridiculous, hobgoblin stories that thev have been told have still an abiding faith that we are their friends and that ' Massa Abe Lincum ' is somehow^ to do great things for them." I50 HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS Thursday, February i6, 1865. — " Was detailed for picket, sent off with my regimental detail to the right, on a road run- ning south from camp. I was very tired and worn. After posting my sentinels laid down and rested. I felt as though I never wished to move from the spot, as though it would be the greatest happiness to lie down and rest forever." Fridav. February 17, 1865. — " The country we passed over was all on fire, the wind blew violently, the troops that preceded us had fired the fences in many places and the fire had s]M-ead over the entire country. Most of the fields here are ' deadenings,' the trees having been girdled and left standing. The flying sparks catch in these readily, and in turn they send off showers of sparks for hundreds of yards. The scene was often very brilliant. Went to bed very much used up." Tuesday. February 21, 1865. — " A good deal of ill feeling in the corps today on account of the conduct of the officers and men of the Twentieth Corps who, reaching Winnsboro just in advance of our corps arrested all our foragers whom they found and took from them their forage. Several men of the Twentieth Corps are reported to have been shot by our men, while engaged in this discreditaljle lousiness." 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