Watchful Waiting: With the 189th Ohio in Northern Alabama in 1865

The war was over. But for the soldiers of the 189th Ohio stationed in Brownsboro, Alabama, the dull routine of army duty continued day after endless day. The men just wanted to go home.

          “While waiting for final orders, drill and discipline are still maintained in their pristine rigor,” one soldier noted. “Private Jacks can’t understand why he is required to carry his rifle eight hours out of 24 on guard when he is to go home soon, while all the privates and officers in the alphabet swear worse than the old army at Flanders did at drilling as a battalion three hours on some hot afternoon. If you want a hornet’s nest, just blow the assembly about 3 o’clock!”

          It was a long period of watchful waiting. “The young and old secesh are quietly waiting for the blue coats to leave,” he continued. “Then they intend to ignore the proclamation of freedom and gobble up all the Negroes and put them to work as though the four years’ struggle never occurred.”

In the meantime, the men busied themselves around the camp. “Time passed wearily with us and expedients were resorted to for passing away time,” another soldier stated. “Rings and shellwork are most in vogue. We are cutting ornaments out of mussel shells to adorn the person of some favorite in the north. Others with a bit of strap keep rubbing steadily on the barrel of a Springfield while others devoted the intervals of duty to sleep and practical toils.”

Among those practical toils was writing letters to the home folks. One of the better examples of this was the following letter written in June 1865 by a soldier to the editors of the Toledo Blade. Writing under the nom-de-plume of Radix, he sent frequent letters to the Blade during his service in Alabama and proved to be a perceptive observer of events in that quarter. This particular letter first saw publication in the June 19, 1865, edition of the Blade.

 

Union soldiers tasked with staying behind as occupation forces throughout the South were quick to note the determination of the defeated Southern soldiers to return to the old ways. "It is impossible to convince the people that slavery is dead and I am convinced that were all troops removed from here, the Negro would either be held as a slave regardless of all proclamations or shot down on sight," our correspondent noted. Federal troops would remain throughout the South until 1877. After their departure, Jim Crow laws served to negate the rights secured during the war for freedmen. Radix called that one, too. "They intend to ignore the proclamation of freedom and gobble up all the Negroes and put them to work as though the four years' struggle never occurred." 

Brownsboro, Alabama

June 12, 1865

          Since the surrender of the miscellaneous gang of vagabonds called Confederate soldiers, we have had a peaceable time and pleasant, the intense heat excepted. The only item of interest had been the election of delegates to the Union Convention and withdrawal of troops whose term of service is near expiration. The election of delegates was held nearly a month since. Colonel Henry Kingsbury was appointed as one, the other I have forgotten. Preferences for candidates were as numerous as the detachments and no one man had a clear majority, although this one passed a resolution endorsing General James Steedman as their first choice. I had supposed you would be furnished an official transcript from regimental headquarters therefore neglected to do so myself.

          The political status of Alabama is much befogged and no efforts outside of old party hacks are being made to restore her to her position. The truth is the people in this section have been so long under U.S. protection without paying taxes that they do not desire civil law to be re-established with accompanying taxation. What the citizens desire is to simply let things remain as they have, i.e., have the U.S. troops to protect them and be free of taxation.

          The question of slavery is the stumbling block. It is impossible to convince the people that slavery is dead and I am convinced that were all the troops removed from here, the Negro would either be held as a slave regardless of all proclamations or shot down on sight. I have heard more than one so express themselves. His conduct is not such as to inspire strong hopes as to his future without protection.

The Negro himself is somewhat to blame for this. For ages he has been held in bondage until he lost all sense of independent manhood and now that he has it thrust upon him, he is at a loss to know what to do with his freedom. At present, his ideas are to get a ragged suit of soldier clothes, a bogus watch (the bigger the better) and go around the country without a pass. When absolutely necessary he will work for the government at $1.75 a day and rations, but as to working for a planter, catch him at it if you can. A Negro will no more trust the word of a man who formerly held him as a slave then you or I would have believed the pledges of Southern Rebels. The Negro truly says contracts with planters are binding only as long as the U.S. had force to compel their validity. The solution of this problem will puzzle more able minds than mine and to them I leave it.

          The most interesting topic at present is “when will we go home?” To this I can say we know nothing of it. No orders have been received to relieve us either at General Granger’s headquarters or regimental headquarters, but the probability is we will remain here for some length of time as we are about the last regiment left in northern Alabama. The 48th Wisconsin is at Athens and all others (18th Michigan, 102nd Ohio, and 73rd Indiana) have received orders to report at Nashville. Until the veterans are reorganized and the government determines what number of troops are needed in the field, we shall remain where we are and the good folks at home may disabuse their minds of the idea that we are on the way or likely to be so soon.

Many soldiers who enlisted in the 189th Ohio in early 1865 had served three year term of enlistments earlier in the war and had seen their fair share of fighting. With hostilities at an end and the job of ending the rebellion seemingly complete, the men just wanted to go home. At the end of September 1865, they finally did, being relieved by U.S. Colored Troops. "The citizens here are very much disgusted and annoyed at having Negroes here to guard and protect them," one 189th soldier observed. "Well Mr. Editor, they have sown the wind and they are now reaping the whirlwind." 


          The opinion of those most competent to judge is that cold weather will find us in the field. If we reach Ohio by the latter part of September or middle of October, it is as soon as a good majority now expect. Therefore, our friends need not stop writing for we expect to remain and gather the plentiful crop plums, blackberries, and peonies around us, We have luxuriated on a most beautiful supply of dewberries for three weeks which has wonderfully improved the health of our company as we can now shown a clean bill of health. All those in the hospital have been discharged and are probably at home.

          The weather has been very hot- thermometer at 100 degrees and dry in proportion, but notwithstanding this, we have our usual drill which improves the appearance of the company if not its temper. In hopes of cooler weather, I remain, RADIX.

 

Sources:

Letters from Radix, Co. G, 189th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Toledo Blade (Ohio), June 19, 1865, pg. 2; August 3, 1865, pg. 2, September 22, 1865, pg. 2

Letter from File Closer, Co. G, 189th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Perrysburg Journal (Ohio), May 10, 1865, pg. 4

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on their way to
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of how Confederate jacke
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true warrior, for then comes the harvest of gain.
Read more

The Cannons are Now Silent: The Field of Death of Tupelo

Image
       The smoke of battle had drifted away from the battlefield at Tupelo, Mississippi on the hot afternoon of July 14, 1864, but the carnage of war lay spread across the open fields. “Scattered at intervals over the field of a few yards are dull gray blotches half shaded by grass,” an officer from the 7 th Minnesota Infantry recorded. “These are the Rebel dead. They have fought their last battle and lie generally in attitudes of rest; some of them look as if they had welcomed death. On the faces of two is imprinted a smile. One is a boy of 16 with delicate features, almost girlish in their beauty. His last gaze seems to have been directed toward his hand on the forefinger of which was a ring. A circle of purer white indicates its place; the ring was carried off as a trophy of the field.” The following account of the Battles of Tupelo and Old Town Creek was written by an unknown officer of the 7 th Minnesota Infantry, his account appearing in the August 5 th 1864 edition of the
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on securing all the Enfi
Read more

Straw Already Threshed: Sherman on Shiloh

Image
  W illiam Tecumseh Sherman was enjoying retired life in New York City when just before Christmas in 1889 he was presented with an article written by John Cockerill, a former drummer boy in the 24 th Ohio who was visiting his father Colonel Joseph Cockerill of the 70 th Ohio of Sherman’s division when the Battle of Shiloh began. Cockerill’s article, originally published in the New York Journalist and later featured in the January 1893 issue of Blue & Gray Magazine, Sherman later pronounced as “the best war story ever written” and the truest account of Shiloh.           On New Year’s Day 1890, General Sherman composed the following letter to his friend Marshall P. Wilder thanking him for sending along Cockerill’s article and giving his own explanation of Shiloh. “This to me is straw already threshed for we have fought this battle on paper several times, a much more agreeable task than to fight with bullets,” he concluded. “When in England some years ago I was gratified to liste
Read more

Federal Arms in the Stones River Campaign

Image
  T he following list, constructed after many years of research, lists unit by unit which type of weapons were carried by the Army of the Cumberland during the Stones River campaign. A number of sources were consulted including state ordnance reports, Federal quarterly ordnance reports (thank you Research Arsenal ), Ken Baumann’s Arming the Suckers, regimental histories and memoirs, captured ordnance reports, and consultation with knowledgeable experts in the field of firearms. Some of this information has been shared on the blog before in “ Rosy’s Heavy Metal: Artillery of the Army of the Cumberland ” or “ Shoulder Arms: How Sheridan’s and Davis’s Divisions Were Armed at Stones River ” but this is the first time the army as a whole has been presented. The overall conclusion I drew from looking at this data is that the Army of the Cumberland in December 1862 was an organization in the midst of transformation as far as arms. Many of the regiments still retained their original issue
Read more

Escape of Captain Henry H. Alban of the 21st Ohio Infantry

Image
Captain Henry H. Alban was among the dozen officers of the 21 st Ohio Volunteer Infantry who were captured on September 20, 1863 at the Battle of Chickamauga. The regiment had held its position atop Snodgrass Hill against repeated Confederate assaults and now battered and without ammunition, with the darkness of evening enveloping the hill, the remainder of that gallant band found themselves at the mercy of the 54 th Virginia. A total of 12 officers and 121 enlisted men surrendered; the regiment’s colors were taken, and the men marched off the field into captivity. Captain Henry Harvey Alban, Co. F, 21st O.V.I. Captain Alban along with the rest went through a series of Confederate prison camps before arriving at Columbia, South Carolina in October 1864. Determined to make an escape, he watched for his chance and one night made his leap for freedom, successfully eluding the local camp guard and setting out along the railroad to head for the mountains of eastern Tennessee and
Read more

Knapsack Compression: Wilbur Hinman recalls the first step of becoming a veteran

Image
L ooking back on his experiences during the war, Captain Wilbur Hinman of the 65 th Ohio (perhaps best known as the author of Si Klegg and His Pard ) recalled that the first road along which his regiment marched was strewn “with debris. A pair of six-mule wagonloads might have been gathered of notions that had been flung aside by a thousand suffering “tenderfeet.” “The average young patriot started for the war with a wheelbarrow load of clothing, a bed quilt or two, books, photograph albums, toilet articles, and gimcracks of every sort,” he wrote. “Neither he nor the good homefolks had the slightest conception of the capacity of a knapsack, nor did they for a moment imagine that before the close of his first day upon the road every pound he carried would seem a hundred.” To the true mark of a veteran soldier was one who “learned to dispense with every unnecessary ounce of weight, and just in the ratio that he did this he increased his efficiency as a soldier. It was of the highest
Read more

Federal Arms in the Chickamauga Campaign

Image
T he ordnance returns of the Army of the Cumberland at the end of September 1863 show the results of a transformational year in weaponry. Since taking command of the army at the end of October 1862, General William S. Rosecrans had repeatedly pestered the War Department to supply his regiments with better firearms both to improve the command’s efficiency as well as expand its striking power. The results speak for themselves: for the infantrymen at the end of September 1863, 90% of them now carried Class I long arms (36,058 out of 39,959), 8.3% carried Class II arms, and a mere 1.5% carried Class III weapons. Most of the foreign-made weapons (except Enfields) were gone, and by and large the army had settled on a single common .58 caliber ammunition, although a few .54 caliber and .69 caliber weapons remained within the ranks. The English-made Enfield rifle musket was by far the most common arm, carried by 56% of the men while the second-most common arm was the .58 caliber M1861 Spring
Read more