After building houses and making our camp pleasant and comfortable, we move from Goldsboro on the tenth of April and march towards Raleigh, North Carolina.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 303
On the twelfth we
arrive at Lowell, and while here we receive the first news of Lee's surrender
to General Grant. Sherman's grand army seems wild to-night. The pineries ring
for Grant and the Union. Victory has come at last, and the bronzed and stalwart
men who have tramped across a continent, make the air vocal with their happy
cheers. The morning of peace cometh; we already see its welcome light peering
from behind the curtains of war's long dark night.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 303
We enter Raleigh,
the capitol of North Carolina, pass through the city and go into camp one mile
from the outer works. To-day Companies A and K leave for headquarters to be
mounted. The dismounted portion of the regiment is now very small. Company H
and the three new companies, B, D and G, are the only ones now remaining to
plod their way on "terra firma;" but we all hope soon to be mounted;
especially old Company H, who, from past experience, know what virtue there is
in mules.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 303-4
This morning we are
ordered from our camp at three o'clock; it soon commences to rain very hard;
the old North Carolina clay roads soon become terrible. During the morning we
hear heavy cannonading, said to be along the front of Jeff. C. Davis'
Fourteenth Corps. We march hard all day, wading a good portion of the time in
mud and water, from knee to waist deep. Night coming on, we go into camp at
Morrisville on the North Carolina Railroad, having traveled twenty miles since
morning.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 304
This morning the
dismounted portion of the regiment receives orders to report to regimental
headquarters to be mounted. Oh! how welcome the news, notwithstanding we do
find the stock and the riding material somewhat on the decline; but anything to
ride is the word that goes forth now from Company H and the new companies.
Tonight, for the first time since we crossed the Ocmulgee river, November 19th,
1864, the Seventh Regiment is all together in camp.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 304
This morning
Sherman's great army bow their heads in mournful silence over the startling
news of the assassination. While we write we remember how we were made glad
when the news was read to us "Richmond has fallen!" "Lee has surrendered!"
Yes, we were made glad, for we knew then that the rebellion was dead, that the
war would soon end, and wild, loud and long were the shouts that rang through
the forests of North Carolina, in honor of those glorious events. But now we
find the army possessed of a different feeling: all seem down-cast and sad; a
veil of gloom hangs like a midnight curtain. And why this gloom? Why do the
tall dark pines seem to wail so mournfully as, tossed by the wind, they sway
hither and fro? Why this sorrow when the harbinger of peace seems so nigh? Ah,
our chief, our ruler, our friend, the Union's friend, the world's friend,
humanity's truest friend on earth, has been stricken down in the hour of his
greatest triumph by the cowardly hand of the assassin. We loved the good, the
noble, the merciful LINCOLN, who had led the millions of the western world
through so terrible a war with the end so nigh. But the great mission designed
for him by the Creator he has accomplished-the freedom of a chained race. May
we ever remember that Abraham Lincoln died a martyr to freedom, a martyr to
law, a martyr to right; and above all let us remember that the minions of
slavery slew him; slew him because he was the world's champion for the rights
of man; because he loved his country, and had a heart that went out to the
lonely cottage homes where the disconsolate widow and fatherless child sat weeping
for the loved and lost who had been swept away by war's dark wave; slew him
because he defied the world;
"While the thunders of War did rattle,
And the Soldiers fought the battle;"
slew him because his
democracy would not embrace the slaveholder's aristocracy; because his
democracy was too broad; because it breathed a spirit of love and compassion
towards earth's chained millions, and a spirit of hatred towards pampered
royalty and cruel tyranny. Although he is dead; although his name, spotless and
pure, has gone to the christian calendar, yet that liberty for which he died
still moves on, and will move on until every throne beneath the circle of the
sun shall have been shaken to its fall. Moving on where the Danube and the
Volga move; moving on where the south wind makes music along the Tiber's
winding way; it will move on until equal rights, the darling theme of Lincoln's
life, shall be established, and the clanking of chains forever silenced, for
the consummation of such an end is certain. God, not man, created men equal,
and deep laid in the solid foundation of God's eternal throne the great
principles of man's equality are established indestructible and immortal. When
that time comes, when liberty shall unfurl her beautiful banner of stars over the
crumbling tombs of empires, heaven and earth will rejoice and the generations
that follow will look back upon the past, (perhaps it will be a century or
more,) and say of Abraham Lincoln, he was the world's leading spirit for
freedom, truth and the rights of man, and the world's bitterest foe against
treason and imperialism.
The memory of
Lincoln, his model manhood, his exalted virtues, his heroic endeavors amid
darkness and disparagements; his sublime devotion to the cause he had espoused;
his love towards the Union army; his great sympathy for the widow and the
orphan boy whose father fell with Wadsworth and Sedgwick in the wilderness,
whose life blood made crimson Rappahannock's rippling waters, whose lamp of
life flickered out in Andersonville and Libby prisons as victims to a ferocious
tyranny; these all will be forever linked with the memory of the patriot
pilgrims, who, in years to come, will bow their heads in silent reverence
before the marble cenotaph that marks the place where the martyred champion
sleeps. May Americans ever love to applaud his virtues, for virtues he had as
pure as the driven snow. "Vivit post funera virtus": may the Illinois
soldiers tread lightly around his tomb; may the prairie winds ever chant
requiems to his memory, and may the great American people remember the day when
their leading light went out-when their brightest star went home to God.
The Seventh remained
in camp at Morrisville, until after the surrender of Johnson [sic], when we retraced our steps and
went into camp on Crab Creek, five miles from Raleigh.
On the 20th, prior
to leaving Morrisville, Colonel Rowett, who was wounded at Allatoona, returns
to the regiment. Never was a colonel's return to his regiment more welcome than
was Colonel Rowett, and as we approach him and take him by the hand we remember
Allatoona—remember how he fought there—remember how he fell! how he bled! how
he cheered his men on to victory. He now assumes command of his old 3d Brigade,
4th Division, 15th A. C. We remain quietly in camp on Crab Creek until the
29th, when Sherman's army break up their camp around Raleigh and take up the
line of march for Washington City. The Seventh being now mounted with the
exception of three new companies, we lead the advance of the 15th Corps. We
arrive at Petersburg on the 6th of May. Things around here tell very plainly
that war's mad machine has been at work here, leaving marks that will be seen a
century hence. We remain at Petersburg until the 9th, when we move towards
Richmond. We go into camp for the night near Fort Darling on the James river.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 307-8
On the morning of
the 10th we move towards Richmond. For some cause unknown we do not enter the
city, but are ordered into camp three miles from the bridge that spans the
James river. remain in camp here until the 14th, when Sherman's victorious army
enters Richmond. We pass Libby Prison, which seemed to send an appeal from her
dark recesses to Sherman's army to sweep the city from the earth. But Sherman
held the rein, and Richmond fell not a victim to their wrath. We pass on
through the city, moving on the road leading to Fredericksburg, where we arrive
and cross the Rappahannock on the 16th. Night coming on, we go into camp on the
banks of the Potomac. In the evening we look away in the distance and behold
its winding way. What a tale of blood could this river tell. But the story will
never be known until a book unscanned by mortal eyes shall be unfolded before
the assembled universe.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 308-9
On the 17th we
arrive at Alexandria and go into camp two miles from the city, and from or camp
we can behold the Union's capital this evening. The flag looks beautiful as we
see it waving in the wind from the old Capitol dome. It looks beautiful because
beneath it treason has fallen, and it tells us that the old Union still lives,
showing to the world the possibilities and capabilities of institutions based
on the voice of men echoing the voice of God.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 309
On the 20th we turn
over our stock, saddles and bridles to the A. Q. M., 4th Division. We part from
our mules this time without any regrets, inasmuch as we need them no more,
having finished our work in the south-land. But the Seventh will ever feel
grateful to Major General Logan for permitting them to retain their stock until
their arrival at Washington, thereby saving them from a long weary march.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 309
On the 24th of May
we cross the long bridge spanning the Potomac and enter Washington City and
pass up Pennsylvania Avenue, and by the White House, with Sherman's army in the
grand review. This was a proud day for Sherman and his army. Flowers and
wreaths, plucked and formed by the hands of the nation's fair ones, fell thick
and fast at the feet of the tramping army as it surged like an ocean wave in
the great avenue. Passing by the stand where stood the nation's great men,
General Sherman turns to his wife and says, "There are the Seventh
Illinois and the sixteen-shooters that helped to save my army in the great
battle on the Allatoona hills."
On that day there
were men in the national capital who were loud in denouncing Sherman as a
traitor, for his actions in his conference with General Joe Johnson [sic]. Generals Howard, Logan, Blair and
Slocum are familiar with the circumstances that controlled Sherman in that
conference. The seventy thousand who with him tramped the continent, have
learned the history of those negotiations, and their expression is unanimous
for Sherman, and to-day they are wild in denouncing all who oppose him.
Catching the spirit of these stalwart men, Lieutenant Flint, of Company G,
writes thus:
Back to your kennels
! 'tis no time
To snarl upon him now,
Ye cannot tear the blood-earned bays
From off his regal brow.
Along old Mississippi's stream,
We saw his banner fly;
We followed where from Georgia's peaks
It flapped against the sky.
And forward! vain her trackless swamps,
Her wilderness of pines,
He saw the sun rise from the sea
Flash on his serried lines!
Back to your kennels! 'tis too late
To sully Sherman's name;
To us it is the synonym
Of valor, worth and fame.
A hundred fights, a thousand miles
Of glory, blood and pain,
From our dear valley of the west,
To Carolina's plain,
Are his and ours; and peace or war,
Let his old pennon reel,
And ten times ten thousand men
Will thunder at his heel,"
After the grand
review, we go into camp a few miles from the capital near the Soldier's Home.
Treason and rebellion being prostrate, and the Union saved, the western troops
are ordered to rendezvous at Louisville, Kentucky, preparatory to their muster out
of the United States service.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 309-11
About the first of
June we leave Washington by rail, taking the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and
while passing by Harper's Ferry the men make the welkin ring by singing
"John Brown's soul is marching on." Upon arriving at Parkensburg,
Va., we embark on Government steamer and are soon floating down the Ohio.
Sitting upon the
deck of the proud steamer, Lieutenant Flint, ever full of his poetical genius,
writes:
The weather is
pleasant and the boys seem happy as they remember that blood has ceased to
flow, and that a conquered peace is drawing nigh. As we stand upon the steamer
moving so queenly, we cast our eyes towards the Kentucky shore; the hills are
green and our feelings tell us they never were so beautiful before. Years ago,
one could not help thinking of the many sad hearts that throbbed over there.
But now the song of freedom is sung on that side of the river as well as on
this side. Yet there are memories associated with those hills that will make us
sad years to come, for many brave hearts are stilled in death over there. Over
and around their graves the green grass is growing, and the freedman will weave
chaplets of flowers and spread over the graves of the lone soldiers; and may be
he will sing a song in grateful remembrance of his fallen benefactor. Arriving
at Louisville we pass through the city and go into camp about five miles up the
river.
We now notice that
Colonel Rowett wears the well merited stars, which are honors fitly bestowed,
and which should have fallen upon his shoulder long ere this. But as it
happened he was no sycophant, and never crawled at the feet of power. After
remaining in camp here a short time the Seventh is ordered to proceed to
Louisville and report to the post commander for provost guard duty. We go into
camp upon one of the vacant lots in the city where we remain performing the
aforesaid duty, until we receive orders to prepare to be mustered out and
discharged from the United States service.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 311-13
After weeks of
anxious waiting for the orders and the completing of the rolls, on the ninth
day of July, 1865, the Seventh Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry is mustered
out of the United States service. The same evening we cross the Ohio river and
take the cars at Jeffersonville, Indiana, for Springfield, Illinois, where we
arrive on the 11th of July and go into camp near Camp Butler, and remain there
until the 18th, when we receive our pay and final discharge, and to our homes
return to enjoy again the peace and quiet of civil life.
Kind reader, our
task is done; through more than four years of war and carnage unknown to but
few nations, we have gone step by step to tell the story of the Seventh in
those turbulent years—"years that saw this nation brought up from darkness
and bondage, to light and liberty." Our mind now reverts, and we remember
when they fell—remember where their life blood ebbed away, while it was yet the
spring-time of life with them.
As the years of
peace roll in, may America's triumphant and happy people cherish their names,
and passing the scenes of their glory and their last struggle in their
country's cause, may they drop tears to their memory, remembering that they
helped to save this union in those days of war's wrathful power. In uncoffined
graves, among strangers they are now resting, and no chiseled stones stand
there to tell the wandering pilgrims of freedom where they sleep. Hence no
epitaphs are theirs, but they need none, for these are written in the hearts of
their countrymen. Farewell, ye brave-hearted men! Farewell, bright hopes of the
past; farewell! farewell, noble comrades who sleep in the sunny south! Peace to
the ashes of the Seventh's noble fallen; peace, eternal peace to the ashes of
every fallen soldier who went down in America's great crusade for freedom,
truth, and the rights of men!
"How sleep the
brave who sink to rest,
With all their country's wishes blest!
When spring with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck the hallowed mound,
She then shall dress a sweeter sod,
Than fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung,
Their honor comes a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay,
And freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there.
"On fame's eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn rounds,
The bivouac of the dead."
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 313-15
In the evening we
move about four miles across an almost impassable swamp and go into camp. The seventy
thousand are now making a terrible stride in South Carolina, moving through the
swamps, the favorite haunts of the slave hunter and his blood hounds. But the
tables are turning; other hounds will soon yelp down here—Sherman's fierce
hounds of war,—they will go sweeping on their path for freedom and law, making
John C. Calhoun restless in his tomb.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294
We move early this
morning; our Division is moving by itself upon a lone road, General Corse
having orders to move across the country and form a junction with the corps now
moving from Pocataligo. The roads are desperate; we only succeed in getting
about eight miles to-day.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294
We cross Black Water
swamps and go into camp at Hickory Hill, making a distance of ten miles.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294
We cross Whippie
Swamp about noon to-day and go into camp for the night.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294
The roads still
continue desperate, and in consequence we move slowly. In the evening we cross
the little Saltkatchie swamp.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294
We move early this
morning, but very slow; these swamps prove to be terrible obstacles to
Sherman's seventy thousand. We soon come to the great Saltkatchie swamp at
Beaufort's Bridge: we find the swamp all flooded, about one mile wide, and the
bridge in the middle. Weak commanders would have faltered; things indeed look
frightful, but General Corse gave the command forward. The Seventh led, and
into the great Swamp the Fourth Division passed, and through it they waded, the
water, winter cold, ranging from waist to neck deep. It did seem that some of
the men would perish; that they would be left in that great swamp; but all
passed safely through, and gaining a footing on the opposite side, drove the
enemy far away, who were all the while disputing our passage. The ammunition
train is now ordered to move across (the ammunition being raised out of water's
reach); about midway they swamp, and the soldiers of Corse's Division are
compelled to go back into the swamp and carry the ammunition boxes out to land.
Remaining here until
the trains are crossed, we move forward and join the corps at Midway, on the
South Carolina Railroad. Then began the movement on Orangeburg. We notice that
Black Jack is at the head of the Fifteenth Corps, having arrived from his
campaign on the northern line and assumed command at Pocataligo. We also find
that the mounted portion of the Seventh are now (as the boys say) members of
his staff. We cross the South Fork of the Edisto River at Halmond's bridge and
move to Poplar Springs to support the Seventeenth Army Corps, moving straight
to Orangeburg, which is taken by a dash of the Seventeenth.
From Poplar Springs
we cross the North Edisto River at Skilling's bridge, and on the fifteenth we
find the enemy in
strong position at Little Congaree bridge, but the gallant Logan, with his
thundering Fifteenth, soon ousts them, when we move across and go into camp in
front of Columbia. During the night our camp is shelled from a battery on the
east side of the Congaree, above Grundy, causing considerable stir in the
Fifteenth Corps' camp.
SOURCE: abstracted
from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, p. 294-6
This morning we move
our camp and shift around more to the left. Brisk skirmishing is now going on
along the river, with some cannonading. In the evening we again move our
position more to the left. The capitol of South Carolina is now in full view.
The Saluda river being pontooned, we cross this evening, which throws us
between two rivers, the Saluda and the Broad, which two form a junction at
Columbia and make the Congaree.
During the night,
under cover of Stone's Brigade, of the Fifteenth Corps, which was crossed in
the afternoon, a pontoon bridge was laid across the Broad River, three miles
above Columbia. On the morning of the seventeenth, Colonel Stone, of the
Twenty-fifth Iowa, commanding Third Brigade, First Division, Fifteenth Corps,
moves towards the city. At eleven o'clock the Mayor comes out and makes a
formal surrender of the city to Col. Stone. In anticipation of General Howard,
with the army of the Tennessee, entering the city, General Sherman's orders are
to spare all dwellings, colleges, asylums, and harmless private property.
General Logan, who
stood at the end of the pontoon bridge when the last pontoon was laid, says to
Howard, with his black eyes flashing: "I will now move into this hell of
treason. But say the word and I will sweep this city from the earth." It
is now past noon. Generals Sherman and Howard have rode into the city. The
Fifteenth Corps is now moving across Broad river. The Seventh is ordered to
stay back and guard the train.
It is now night; the
wind is raging furiously; the heavens are all aglow; Columbia is enveloped in
flames; her beautiful architecture is crumbling; her gorgeous mansions are
falling; the work and labor of a century is being destroyed.
SOURCE: abstracted from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 296-7
