WAR STORIES FOR MY * * * GRANDCHILDREN BY JOHN W. FOSTER Qass. Book, U -i- f^.'^ \ .TlS CoiJ^'iiglu "N" o: "We were in motion within an hour, and all along the road, as everywhere heretofore in our march through East Tennessee, we were received with the warmest expressions and demonstrations of joy. In the morning I expected that I would not be able to take the town without a fight, but as my brigade had been assigned the post of honor, I was satisfied it would do its full duty. A few miles before we reached the town we ascertained that the rebels had all left, the last of them that morning. The Fifth Tennessee Cav- alry, which was in the advance, surrounded the town, and about four o'clock yesterday afternoon I rode into town with the staff and escort, and such an ovation as we received was never before during this war given to any army. The demonstration beggars all description. Men, women, and children rushed to the streets, — no camp-meeting shouting 124 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN ever exceeding the rejoicing of the women. They ran out into the streets shouting, 'Glory! Glory!' 'The Lord be praised!' 'Our Savior's come!' and all such exclamations. The men huzzahed and yelled like madmen, and in their profusion of greetings I was almost pulled from my horse. Flags long concealed were brought from their hiding-places. As soon as I could get to a hotel I was waited upon by the mayor (a true Union man) and a large number of loyal men, prominent citizens, and they received me with heartiest congratulations and welcome. All afternoon and into the night until the provost guard sent all citizens to their homes the streets resounded with yells, and cheers for the 'Union' and 'Lincoln.' A marked feature of the loyalty of this sec- tion (so different from western Kentucky) is that the peo- ple have no scruples about hurrahing for Lincoln, — they recognize him as the leader and head of the Government. "It is stated that last night, after the occupation of the town, the intelligence was communicated to the people throughout the country by the firing of guns from place to place and by signal fires on the mountains. And this morn- ing the streets were crowded with people from the country far and near, and such rejoicing I never saw before. How they shouted and stood with uncovered heads beneath the old Stars and Stripes. With what sincere welcome they met the soldiers. The mayor of the city brought forth an immense flag, which he had kept, waiting anxiously for the day when he could unfurl it. This was suspended early this morning over Main (or Gay) Street, and at the sight of it THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 125 the people as they came in from the country yelled with a perfect frenzy of delight. Early in the day a procession of ladies was formed, and bearing two American flags, they marched down Main Street and under the large flag, in order that they might fulfill a vow they made early in the war that they would in a body march under the first Ameri- can flag raised in Knoxville. It does soldiers good to fight for such a people. It is a labor of love. Every soldier in my brigade has been paid a hundred times over since we came into East Tennessee for all our hardships, short rations and exposures, by the hearty welcome of the people. We can see upon their faces the recognition of the fact that we have delivered them from a cruel bondage. "Although the rebels have for five days been removing their property, we came upon the town so suddenly yester- day that we captured a large amount of army property, five locomotives, a number of cars, and saved the mills, foundry, railroad works, hospitals, and other army buildings from burning. "September 3. " I went yesterday to visit the prison where the rebels kept the Union men confined. It is a dirty, filthy, jail, hardly fit for the lowest criminals. I saw the room in which Parson Brownlow was confined. On the wall of it in large black letters is written, — ^ Death to our persecutors.* "When we came in on Tuesday the gallows was standing near the railroad, at the edge of the town, where the Union 126 WAR STORIES FOR AIY GRANDCHILDREN men were dragged from the jail and, contrary to all law and civilized warfare, hung like felons for faithfulness to their Government. You will find something of this in Brownlow's narrative. I rode over to see it as soon as I could on the morning after we arrived, and to place a guard over it, but some enraged soldiers and citizens had gone there before me and cut it down and burnt it. I was sorry, because it was in a prominent place and I wanted it preserved as a monument of the wickedness and cruelty of the persecutors of these people. "We had this morning a fresh outbreak of patriotism. The news of the Federal occupation of the town had by last night spread into the adjoining counties, and the people flocked in from every direction. A large delegation of men and women of all ages formed in long procession (from Sevier County) and carrying the American flag, paraded through the town and out to camp, and the town again ran wild with patriotic joy. Men who had been hiding among the rocks and caves of the mountains, and who had not seen each other for years or since the rebellion broke out, stood grasping each other's hands beneath the folds of the old flag, while tears streamed down their cheeks. I have read of * tears of joy,* but never saw so much of it as here. "But General Burnside and the rest of the army will be in town this evening and I must get ready to receive them, so good-bye for the present." In my letter of the 7th I gave an account of my first ex- pedition out of Knoxville : — "A day or two after his arrival General Burnside sent for THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 127 me to say that he had received Information which he thought was rehable to the effect that the rebels had left the railroad up as far as Bristol, on the Virginia line one hundred and thirty miles, in good condition and unguarded; that at Bris- tol there was a round-house and a great supply of locomotives and cars; and that it was very desirable to get possession of this rolling-stock, if possible. He proposed that I make up a train out of the rolling-stock I had captured on my occu- pation of Knoxville and go up the railroad as far as I could do so safely, and reach Bristol if possible. " It was a new business for me to go a-soldiering on a rail- road train, but I cheerfully undertook the expedition. I had to secure the engineer and brakemen out of my own com- mand, as there were none others available. Putting three of the companies of the Sixty-fifth dismounted on the train, we started out early in the afternoon, hoping to get over a good part of the road before dark, but within ten miles of Knoxville we encountered a small bridge burnt, but with the tools we had brought with us some of our expert railroad men were able to arrange a temporary crossing for the train. It was nearly dark when we reached Strawberry Plains, only seventeen miles out, and here we stopped the train, as I had learned that the President of the railroad lived here, and he would probably be at home, as he had iled from Knoxville before our arrival. I took a small guard with me to his house, where I found him. I explained that our general had sent me on an expedition up his road toward the Vir- ginia line, and as we had no one on the train who was familiar 128 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN with the road, I should esteem it a great favor if he would accompany us. Seeing the situation with my armed guard, he accepted the invitation with the best grace possible, but as we moved off the ladies of the household set up a fearful wailing, beseeching me not to take him, as they felt sure he was going to his death, notwithstanding I assured them that no harm should come to him. "After comfortably seating the President, I took post with the brigade bugler on top of a pile of wood on the locomotive tender, and the train moved oif at slow speed in the darkness on the strange road, without a stop until we reached Jones- boro, ninety-eight miles from Knoxville, after midnight. Here our engineer, not being familiar with the switches, ran the fore wheels of his locomotive off the track. While a few of us dismounted to aid in getting on the track again, I dis- covered that another train was lying on the track with a lot of invalid Confederate soldiers, who told us the train had just arrived that evening from Richmond. About the same time we heard a great commotion in the town, with loud military commands indicating the presence of troops. It was very dark and we were strange to the locality, but I or- dered out a platoon of soldiers, who fired a volley or two in the direction of the noise, which was followed by a great clatter of horses' hoofs. The next day, as we came back, the citizens told us that the rebel troopers could be seen in all directions flying away, some bareback, others without fire- arms or hats. It proved to be a detachment of Confederate cavalry stationed in the town. THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 129 "At Jonesboro we learned from the station employees that another train would be due from Richmond about eight o'clock in the morning. Thirteen miles above that place the railroad crossed the Watauga River, where there was a rebel blockhouse or fort protected by artillery, and which we learned was garrisoned. Our only hope of getting to Bristol was to capture the incoming train and rush our own train unawares into the fort and take the garrison by surprise. So after leaving a guard in charge of the train found at Jones- boro, we moved up quietly about day-break to the first station this side of the fort, surrounded the town with orders to allow no one to pass out, and we lay quietly in ambush waiting for the train. Sure enough, it came along on time and we were greatly elated. But just before it got within gun- shot of our ambush, it whistled down the brakes, stopped, and instantly ran backwards at full speed and whistling into the fort. Some one had given them a warning signal, and the fort was at once notified of our presence. With that our expedition to Bristol came to an end. General Burnside had been misinformed. The railroad above Knoxville was not only guarded but was in use from Richmond. "Our return journey was uneventful except that, as we neared Jonesboro, some of the soldiers we had scattered had quite dexterously loosened a rail and slightly displaced one end at a sharp curve in the road on a down grade, which tumbled our locomotive down an embankment and dis- abled it. Several of the soldiers were bruised and the rail- road President got a few slight scratches on his face. For- 130 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN tunately we had the captured locomotive, and with it we took all the cars back to Knoxville. Our return was on Sun- day, and as the news of our passing up in the night had got noised about, the whole country turned out in gala dress and with flags to welcome us." My next letter is from Greenville, seventy-four miles above Kjioxville on the railroad, the home of Andrew Johnson, afterwards President of the United States. It is dated Sep- tember 12: — "I have my brigade at this place, as also the One Hundred and Third Ohio Infantry assigned to my command and stationed here as a provost guard. Generals Burnside and Hartsuff (corps commander) have been very pleasant and kind and are disposed to do everything they can for me. They promise to send me on an expedition by way of Bris- tol into Virginia to destroy the Salt Works, probably the most important movement left in East Tennessee. I am in very good health and spirits." We were still at Greenville on September i6. My chief trouble seemed to be with the mails. I had not heard from home for nearly a month. I write my wife: — "It has been so long since I have heard from you. How I would appreciate a letter to-day from my dear wife, telling me about our family affairs, that she was well, that our dear little children were well, giving me some of the sayings and doings of my little Alice, to have some news from Evans- ville and the families there. If it had not been that I had so very much to do and such great responsibilities resting upon THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 131 me that kept me actively employed, I should have been lonely, Indeed. When I go a-soldiering again I want it along a river or railroad so I can get some communication with the outer world and my wife. "I am glad to assure you that in this long interval of sus- pense I have been in good health and I think discharging my duties to the entire satisfaction of my superior officers. I am very well satisfied at being ordered away from Henderson and placed in active service. It has given me a very promi- nent and choice command, and brought me in close contact with the commanding generals of the army. During the past three weeks I have been in close and intimate relationship with Generals Burnside and Hartsuff, and acting directly under their orders. "We have been for a week at this place in front of an army of rebels at Jonesboro twenty miles above here, mo- mentarily expecting an attack. I think that within a few days we will make a movement that will completely drive them out of Tennessee. If so you may expect to hear of the Second Brigade dashing away up onto the sacred soil of Virginia. I have a very good brigade of near three thousand effective men. For the present I am holding this position with my brigade and two regiments of infantry till General Burn- side comes up with the army which is on the way. Several times a day I am called to the telegraph office for con- versations over the wires with General Burnside on the situa- tion at the front and he freely calls for my views as to move- ments. He is a very kind-hearted and pleasant gentleman, 132 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN and willing to give every officer his full share of credit. I write thus freely to my wife of these matters because she will be interested to know them and to her it will not appear boasting or self-praise. "I wish I had time to prepare a letter for the friends at home on the state of affairs in East Tennessee, and give a simple narrative of facts as to what the Union men have suffered. Such cruelty, such oppression, and heartless wrong has no parallel at least on this continent. It may have been equaled by the barbarians of Europe. No wonder that the people receive us with tears and perfect ecstasy of rejoicing and unbounded enthusiasm. The rejoicing and demonstra- tions I have witnessed will be probably the brightest of my reminiscences of the war. No wonder these people have wept tears of joy at the sight of the old flag, for it has brought to them freedom from a tyrannical oppression. It was the happiest epoch of my life to first carry that flag into Knox- ville, and to bear it in the advance along up this valley for more than a hundred miles, and receive the welcome of the loyal people. And I hope in a few days to have the honor to say that we have driven the enemy entirely beyond the borders of the State. "At our advance men have come to us all bleached and weak, who have been hiding in the rocks and caves and in pits away from the light of day for months. Men have been chased through the mountains for conscription in the rebel service, and a bounty ofl"ered for their arrest or death. Wo- men have been driven from their homes, and their houses THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 133 and their all were burnt before them, because their hus- bands were in the Union army. The scaffolds were to be seen where loyal men were hung for suspicion of bridge- burning without any trial whatever. The tales of cruelty and wrong which I have heard go to make up a history of tyranny which will be the blackest record of this slave- holders' rebellion. "There is a valley over the line in North Carolina about twenty-five miles from this place, just under the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, almost shut out from the world. The valley along the creek is rich and inhabited by a bold but simple race of men. These men, partaking of the true spirit of the mountains, were true and unalterably at- tached to the Government, and no bribes or threats could induce them to go into the Southern army. There was but a small community of them and they were unanimous. When the conscripting officers came to take them into the army by force and the foragers to carry off their horses and provi- sions, they met them along the mountain-sides with their squirrel-rifles and drove them back; it was almost worth a Confederate officer's life to venture into the valley. Finally they sent a large force of cavalry and Indians among them and drove the mountaineers before them. They fled to their hiding-places and none of the men fit for military duty could be found. The cavalry gathered up all their horses and cat- tle. The women and children, old men and boys, were left at home, thinking them safe from conscription. The savage traitors drove the families from their houses and burnt them 134 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN and everything in them. But this was not all. The old men, the women, and children were driven out of the valley and made to walk on foot over the mountains and down to Greenville. Old and prominent citizens of this place have told me that it was the most pitiable sight they ever beheld. A stout-hearted and manly citizen in talking to me about it could not restrain the tears, saying that he never related the circumstances without tears, because it brought the sight so vividly before him. Women came carrying children in their arms, with other little ones barefooted and almost naked clinging to their skirts. There were women of all ages and children driven like sheep before the soldiers. There were women in a most delicate situation who were made to walk with the rest; if the suffering were the greater the punish- ment was the more appropriate. They were brought to the railway station and kept over night, and it was the deter- mination of General (called 'Mud wall' in contradistinction to 'Stonewall') Jackson in command here to send them over the Cumberland Mountains to Kentucky. Governor Vance of North Carolina heard of the brutal proceeding in time, and declared that women and children should not be banished from his State so long as he was its governor, and they were ordered to be returned. "Since then these men of the Laurel Valley have been the wild men of the mountains. Their homes have been in the caves and cliffs of the rocks, and woe to the rebel soldier who came within range of their rifles. The most vigorous measures have been taken to ferret them out, but few of THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 135 them have ever been caught, their hiding-places and their daring were a good protection. A company of them twice attempted to break through and cross the Cumberland Mountains to join the Union army in Kentucky, but were driven back before they could get out of East Tennessee. Day before yesterday a company of over fifty of these brave men came over from the mountains and asked me for help. An old man, who was the spokesman and the wise man of the valley, said they were a poor, ignorant, wild set of 'cusses' who did n't know much but devotion to the flag of their country and how to shoot. He asked me to give them a little good advice and some guns. I could not refuse the latter, at least. I gave them the arms and sent them home, and a merciful God will have to protect the savages who have murdered their fathers, plundered their farms, burnt their houses, and driven their wives and mothers from their homes, for these men with their muskets will not remember mercy. "This is no fancy sketch or exaggerated story of the war. It is the plain, unvarnished truth, to be vouched for by hundreds of citizens of Greenville. Could you have believed that such atrocity could have been committed in the land of Washington? This same General Jackson is now in front of us, and I have been asking General Burnside for days to let my brigade after him, but he withholds for the present. It will not be many days before I shall try to capture him or drive him out of East Tennessee, I hope forever." The expedition from which I had so greatly longed to drive 136 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN out the rebel General Jackson, and which General Burnside had promised, did not come off. General Rosecrans had suffered a severe repulse at Chickamauga, and Burnside was ordered to give him what support he could. This brought all of Burnside's plans above Knoxville to a dead halt. Bragg's rebel cavalry was reported to have crossed the Ten- nessee River and was threatening Rosecrans's rear, and all of Brunside's cavalry was ordered to follow up Bragg's move- ment. My next letter was written at Knoxville, October i, to which place I had come with my brigade. On arrival here I was still without letters from home. I had attempted to telegraph, but could get no replies. Apparently my dis- consolate condition had worked upon General Burnside's sympathy, as he sent a telegram in his own name inquiring about the whereabouts and health of my wife, which soon brought an answer that she was at Evansville and "all well." How this news was received is told in the letter: — "You can hardly imagine how gratifying it is to me to know to-night that my dear wife and children are well, from whom I am so far separated. I can go to-morrow to execute the orders of the general with much more alacrity that I now know that you are well and at home. "Aside from its inaccessibility for the mails, I find East Tennessee a very pleasant country to be in. The Union people are very kind and friendly, the climate is very healthy, and the valley of East Tennessee one of the most beautiful in America. I tell the people here that if we can get peace again and they will abolish slavery, I would like very THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 137 well to come and live with them. I have been very kindly and considerately treated by them. Being in the advance all the time, I have been the first to make their acquaintance, and they consequently know me better than others. I need not live in camp at all while about Knoxville. I have been here now four days and have had only one meal in camp. The society of the Union people of Knoxville is very pleasant and quite cultivated. "But my visits to Knoxville are only pleasant episodes in my military life. Cavalry must be active. I am off again. The brigade left to-night for Loudon, starting at dark in a pitiless rain, and it has been raining ever since. General Burnside had me wait over here to-night that he might confer with General Shackelford and me as to my move- ments, and he will give me a special train in the morning for myself and staff. He has invited me to come in the morning and take breakfast with him, when the matter will be defi- nitely settled and I will be off. Bragg's cavalry has crossed over to the north side of Tennessee River, threatening Rose- crans's rear and communications, and we must do something to checkmate them if possible. I have a good brigade and the general is disposed to give me work to do. General Shackelford commands our division now, and is very kind and partial to me." My next letter was written from Knoxville October 4: — "I wrote you three nights ago. Then my brigade had been ordered to Loudon, and I was only remaining behind to get the last and special instructions of the general before 138 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN going myself, expecting to be off in the morning, but I am still here and my brigade at Loudon. Every few hours I have been expecting definite orders, and something tran- spires to prevent it. During the last few days I have been getting a pretty good insight into the inner workings of our military affairs. I have been in General Burnside's private room daily and frequently, in conference with him and other generals, and know something about the interference of Washington City. "The plans were all laid, my guides were selected, the rations were all issued, my brigade was ready and waiting, and in a short time I was to be off on a grand raid into Georgia in rear of Bragg's army, tear up the railroad system of the State, and alarm the rebels generally, when orders were received from General Halleck that raids into Georgia are not now contemplated, and all that is stopped. Probably you will thank General Halleck for that. It may have made me a general. It may have run me into Libby Prison. But it was a great disappointment to me and I think to the general. " I have seen more of General Bumside than any of our generals, and I regard him as one of the best of men, a pure patriot, a just man, and, I hope, a Christian. Let me give you an instance. Yesterday evening everything was ready for a general movement of his whole army. I telegraphed my brigade at Loudon to be ready to move at two o'clock this morning; the forces at Cumberland Gap were notified to be in readiness; it appeared a matter of importance that we THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 139 should be off. I went up to his room last night to get my final instructions. The general said he believed we would wait a day, as he forgot about to-morrow being Sunday. He said he always felt a disinclination to commence a movement on Sunday, and he would not do it, unless he should learn during the night that it was very urgent. So to-day we have a quiet Sabbath, the only one since we left Kentucky. It is very pleasant to me and doubtless is to the whole army." It turned out that Bragg's cavalry was not a severe menace to Rosecrans and my brigade was recalled from Loudon and we moved up into Virginia as a part of the general movement just indicated. In a fight near Bristol the Sixty-fifth Regiment lost four killed and thirteen wounded, and had another fight at Jonesboro, from which place the letter of October 18 is written: — "We have just returned from a fatiguing march into Vir- ginia. We have succeeded in driving the enemy away from Zollicoffer, having another fight at Blountsville, and destroy- ing the Virginia Railroad for ten miles, but I have no time now to write about it. I have stood the last two weeks' cam- paign remarkably well and continue in the best of health. I enjoy the cavalry service very much, only lately we have had a little too much of a good thing. During the past five weeks we have been continuously on the march, with a num- ber of sharp fights. But we have now a prospect of a few days' rest. If I get it I will improve it to write you a good long letter, but the enemy may interfere with my plans any 140 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN day. This is likely to be our outpost station until Rose- crans and Bragg settle affairs below. "How often and how much I desire to be at home with the dear ones and families of relations and friends. As we rode along through the mud and rain to-day I thought of home and what a pleasure it would be for me to be with you all at home. But I must content myself, believing I am in the line of duty and pray that a kind Providence may bring me home at an early day. I have always believed that God is doing his will and accomplishing his purposes of right and freedom in this war, and if I can be one of the instruments in his hands of accomplishing a portion of this work we should be content. Kisses in abundance to my darling little children. Does my little Alice talk much about her papa ? Tell her he thinks all the time about her." Extract from letter of October 25 : — " I wrote you a few days ago, just as I was starting on a reconnoissance toward Bristol. We found no enemy nor heard of any this side of Abingdon, Virginia, in any force. We had a very disagreeable march, raining most of the time, very hard on both men and horses. Our campaigning has been very hard and tiresome,though I have stood it myself very well, in fact better than if we had less active duty; but it has tried the mettle of our brigade. We have run our horses nearly down, a large number of the men are dismounted, and more than half of the rest have horses that will not stand a march of any length. The Sixty-fifth came out with eight hundred and fifty men; there are now in camp about THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 141 six hundred. The marching, rain storms, short rations, and especially the whistling of bullets and ball have driven a number of our officers out of the service. "But I fear the worst of our campaigning is yet to come. It is becoming a serious question how we are to sustain our army in East Tennessee this winter. There is enough bread and meat, but the men have no winter clothing, and unless it comes soon it cannot get over the mountains. Winter will soon be upon us, with muddy roads and swollen rivers. We have just started a train of wagons from our division over to Kentucky for clothing and supplies, but I do not expect to see it short of six weeks, if ever. We had been hoping to get railroad communication open by way of Chattanooga, but the disaster to Rosecrans has at least postponed that. Just now I am anxious to get over Into North Carolina with my brigade, but military movements are very uncertain and most likely I shall be disappointed." On the 29th of October I wrote again : — "General Shackelford had a report of the advance on us of an army of eighteen thousand and out of due precaution ordered us to fall back eighteen miles, but this morning mat- ters look as if we ran too soon from an invisible enemy. It will not surprise me if we are ordered back to our old camp at Jonesboro. It will suit me very well if we are, for I may then have a chance to make my contemplated raid over the mountains into North Carolina. I am anxious to get over there to see the people. The trip would take us through the Blue Ridge." 142 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN I quote from a letter of November i : — "I wrote in my last how we got down here, how we ran from Sancho Panza's windmills. We are still here. We had orders to march and were all ready an hour before daylight yesterday morning, when the orders came countermanding the marching. We were to go back to Jonesboro. We are having a delightful day and a very quiet and most welcome Sabbath. I have been reading *The Words and Mind of Jesus,' and I got hold of an 'Independent,' which was quite a treat, as I don't often see any religious paper here. I went over to the house of Mr. Henderson (the leading citizen of this place) and found he had quite a good religious library; plenty of Presbyterian works. I told him he appeared to be sound religiously, if not politically; he is considerable of a rebel. "We have been enjoying our rest of late very much, and if we were not stirred out every little while with reports of large rebel forces right upon us, we could get more real en- joyment out of it. This evening a citizen (a reliable one, of course) reports the enemy advancing in force. To-morrow an equally reliable and intelligent one will know that there are none this side of the Holston River. If Willie were out here he would see a great deal more about soldiering than he used to see at Henderson." In my letter of November 8 I give an account of a bold dash ot the rebels to Rogersville, which routed a Federal force stationed there, and captured four hundred and four guns: — THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 143 "General Wilcox, who was in command in upper Tennes- see, when he got the report of the fight from the scared fugi- tives, became alarmed for fear the enemy would get in our rear, and he caused a general retreat of the whole army. Our cavalry and all marched all Friday night and till late in the morning of Saturday, and abandoned the whole country for eighteen miles below Greenville, thus giving up all we had gained. And all without reason, for as it turned out while we were marching all night one way the rebels were retreating with their booty and prisoners the other! Where we will go next I do not know, but I hope right back and occupy the country clear up to the Virginia line. We can do it without difficulty. "The whole cavalry force of Burnside's army has been formed into a cavalry corps and placed in command of Gen- eral Shackelford. The corps is composed of two divisions. Our brigade is In the Second Division. It would be com- manded by Colonel Carter, if present, but he may be absent for some weeks, and I have been assigned to the command of this division. It will be a very nice command and quite complimentary to me." I may state that I remained in command of this division of cavalry during the remainder of my service in Tennessee. I extract from my letter of November 13: — "Major Brown and nine men of the Sixty-fifth are about leaving for a recruiting service In Indiana, and I send this letter by him. I told Major Brown that I did not know that I could say I wished (as he) that I too was going home, but 144 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN I could say with emphasis that I wished the war was over and that I was going home to return no more. This going home to stay a week or two and then come back, tear away from home and all its dear attachments, is worse than the first departure. I can't say that when the campaign is pretty well over I may not apply for a leave of absence; but when I think of the parting from home again and the long muddy winter ride across the mountains, I begin to balance the mat- ter. When I come home I want it to be my last 'leave.' When shall that be? I am too great a lover of my little wife, my darling children, and my happy home to make a good soldier, at least a professional soldier. How sweetly you wrote In your last letter of our little Alice praying her evening prayer for her absent papa. I believe He who noticeth the fall of a sparrow will hear and answer the prayer of innocence and childhood, and bring me home in safety that I may be the guardian of our dear family." My letter of November 14 reports an unfavorable change in the situation in East Tennessee. General Bragg command- ing the rebel forces in front of Chattanooga, feeling that he had Rosecrans's army safely besieged, dispatched Longstreet, one of the ablest of the Confederate generals, with his army corps to capture or drive out Burnslde. It is to that situa- tion my letter refers : — "The intelligence this afternoon from Knoxville was rather ominous of evil to us. General Wilcox telegraphs me that the enemy have forced the right bank of the river below Loudon, that General Burnslde had gone down to-day, and THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 145 that If the enemy were too strong for our forces there we would have to look out for a retreat to the gaps in the Cum- berland Mountains. Our line of march would be to Cumber- land Gap, and I am notified that I with my division will have the important work of guarding the approaches to this route, down the valleys of the Holston, Clinch, and Powell Riv- ers, and also keeping open the communication with General Bumside on our right to Knoxville. We will know more definitely to-night or to-morrow. " I hope and pray that we may not be driven to that dire necessity. In proportion as our joy was great in the occupa- tion of this country would our regrets be deep at being com- pelled to abandon it. But I have hope that to-morrow will bring the welcome intelligence that our army below has driven the enemy back over the river. It would be with a sad and heavy heart that I turned my back upon the loyal people of East Tennessee. I have confidence that God does not will it so." When my next letter November 22 was written from Taze- well, on the route to Cumberland Gap, Bumside had been besieged for a week by Longstreet : — "We are lying quiet here, just out of hearing of the fight- ing that is raging at Knoxville. Our messengers from Knox- ville report Bumside holding out heroically. I have little time to write and less Inclination, even to my dear wife. I am heart-sick and gloomy, though not discouraged. General Burnside, the best man of the generals I know, and a gallant army have been beleaguered at Knoxville for a week, and are 146 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN still fighting manfully. We are almost powerless to do him any good, but I have asked General Wilcox to let me take my cavalry and support me at the fords of Clinch River with his infantry, and I would make at least one vigorous effort to break the rebel lines and raise the siege. He is at the Gap. General Bumside ordered him to look out for his line of re- treat and at all events to hold Cumberland Gap. This he is in a position to do." I wrote the 26th from Cumberland Gap, where I had come to try to get horses : — "We have no news from General Bumside direct since the 23d, when he said he could hold out ten days, that his posi- tion was a strong one, and we are hopeful of his success for Grant at Chattanooga will push vigorously against Bragg. I will be off in the morning to harass the enemy. I shall make my headquarters at Tazewell, and send my old brigade over Clinch River toward Knoxville to stir up the enemy a little, and try to divert them from Bumside. Our cavalry is in such wretched condition it is almost impossible to do anything, the horses worn out, without shoes, and with very little forage. I regret it exceedingly when so much is ex- pected of us and needed. General Wilcox is ordered to keep his infantry near the Gap and send my cavalry out toward the enemy to gather information and annoy them." I wrote again on the 29th when we had just heard of Grant's victory at Chattanooga, but were without informa- tion of the gallant defense of Fort Stevens and the bloody repulse of the rebels at Knoxville : — THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 147 "We have no news except the glorious victory of Grant's army, and we are hoping to see its effect in the deHverance of Burnside. The enemy seek to starve him into a surrender. I sent out yesterday my old brigade to go down toward Knoxville and feel out the enemy. I am getting a little anx- ious about them as there was cannonading heard below and I have had nothing from them since they left. It would be a serious affair for me to have my old brigade captured. "We are having rather a hard time to live, subsisting en- tirely upon the country. Our cavalry get along better than the infantry; the latter have been for days without flour or meal. Twenty-five cents have been refused for a cup full of corn. Parched corn is a luxury. But we are hoping for better times in a few days. The men bear it manfully." In my letter of December 4, in acknowledging receipt of a late letter from my wife, I reply: — "I wish very much I could be at home to enjoy with you the entertainments you write about, but I shall have to forego all these pleasures, and live on corn-bread and pork, cold nights, muddy roads, and occasional skirmishing. I don't know when I can promise you to come home, but not while the enemy is before us, as now. I think a few days hence will see them driven away. I mentioned in my last letter sending the Second Brigade down to the vicinity of Knoxville. They were attacked by the whole of Longstreet's cavalry and pressed back. They gave the enemy a severe fight, killing and wounding a considerable number of them. Our losses were a few taken prisoners, four killed and thirty 148 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN wounded. Our men did bravely. My whole division will try it again to-morrow. We expect Sherman, who was sent up by Grant after his victory to relieve Burnside, will reach Knoxville to-morrow, when if Longstreet has not retreated there must be a severe battle. We want to be near at hand with our cavalry. I would have been there two or three days ago with my whole division, but have been constantly held back by General Wilcox." Sometime before the siege of Knoxville General Burnside had asked to be relieved of the command of the department, and General John G. Foster (of New Hampshire) of the Eastern army had been appointed to succeed him. He ar- rived at my headquarters while the siege was in progress. In this letter writing about a leave to come home, I refer to General Foster: — "If matters quiet down here there is a probability that I may come this winter, but nothing certain; a man in the army can't go when he pleases. If General Burnside had re- mained, I think I would have had no difficulty, but it is un- certain as to General Foster, how strict he will be. I have been with him here for three or four days, being frequently consulted by him as to movements, the country, etc., and have been quite intimate at his headquarters. He is quite a Yankee and not so agreeable in his manners as Burnside, but withal he may make a good commander. But there is no man like Burnside for this department with his soldiers. I espe- cially will regret his leaving." The day after I wrote my last letter, Longstreet retreated THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 149 from Knoxville (December 5) up the valley toward the Vir- ginia line, and the next day (the 6th) General Sherman reached Knoxville. On December 10 I wrote: — "Bean Station, where we are now camped, you will find on most maps of Tennessee. It is ten miles from Morris- town on the road to Cumberland Gap, just at the foot of the Clinch mountains, forty-two miles from Knoxville. We have followed the enemy this far up from Knoxville. From Taze- well I joined the Second Brigade near Knoxville. Colonel Graham of that brigade reported that an encampment of the enemy was over the mountain about five miles, so I sent him over, had a skirmish, captured a captain, several pris- oners, and seventy-five horses, and drove them clear over Clinch Mountain. Since then we have followed the enemy in their retreat, skirmishing with their rear guard all the way. I doubt whether we shall push the enemy much far- ther, as it will be difiicult to get supplies." The siege of Knoxville was one of the most gallant events on the Federal side during the Civil War. Burnside with an inferior force successfully sustained a siege of twenty days, resisting the assaults of the enemy with comparatively small losses, endured short rations, and by the heroism of his command saved East Tennessee to the Union. The result gave great joy to all loyal men, and President Lincoln issued a proclamation, calling on the people " to render special hom- age to Almighty God for this great advancement of the National cause," and Congress thanked Burnside and his army. General Grant in his "Memoirs" says: "The safety ISO WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN of Burnside's army and the loyal people of East Tennessee had been the subject of much anxiety to the President, and he was telegraphing me dally, almost hourly, to * remember Bumslde,' *do something for Bumslde,' and other appeals of like tenor." In my letter of December lo, I say: "Burnslde goes out of this Department with the admiration of the whole army. His defense of Knoxvllle was glorious, and his goodness of heart and purity of character endear him to all who know him." Years after, while Minister to Mex- ico, I visited Washington at the time when Bumslde was a Senator from his State, and received from him much social attention In recognition of our army friendship. From Bean Station I wrote again on December 13: — "We are still at this place, from which I last wrote you, being comparatively quiet. We daily send out reconnols- sances toward Rogersville and Morristown. They generally meet the enemy nine and twelve miles out, have a pretty sharp skirmish, lose a few men killed and wounded, and then return to camp. The enemy do not appear to be re- treating, or rather appear to have stopped retreating. My health continues very good, and I am in good spirits, only I get quite homesick at times. I will get home as soon as I can, but the prospect for doing so Is not very flattering." In a hurried visit to Knoxvllle I wrote on the 23d of December : — "As I got to thinking about home, I said to General Foster that when my services could be dispensed with, I would like to take a leave of absence. He says he cannot think of letting THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 151 me go for ten days or two weeks, but hopes at the expiration of that time that the exigencies of the service will permit him to let me go home. That means that I may probably go home if the enemy will let me. Don't fix your heart on my coming soon. It will be as soon as I can consistently." This is my Christmas letter : — "I can do nothing better to-night than to write you a letter by way of a Christmas present. We have to-day un- expectedly had a quiet, if not a Merry Christmas, though it did not appear last night as though it would be so. About 3 P.M. yesterday I received orders (in camp near Blain's Cross-Roads) to move over at once and join General Sturgis at New Market, where the main body of the cavalry are. We got off about sunset, but did not arrive here till mid- night, having to ford the Holston and travel over a very bad road. How longingly I thought of what you and the dear ones at home might be doing at that hour as I marched along in the clear, stinging cold night. "After the cold and cheerless ride we fortunately got into comfortable quarters, and have been quiet to-day, enjoying the rest and comfort. We improvised a pretty good Christ- mas dinner. Among the delicacies we don't get often, we had eggs and butter. We are not living in excellent Epicurean style just now, as the country is pretty well eaten out. "I cannot see any prospect of our getting into winter quarters, such as the papers report the Army of the Potomac and of the Cumberland are enjoying. The climate of East Tennessee is very similar to that of Indiana, and the men are 152 WAR STORIES FOR IMY GRANDCHILDREN very scantily supplied with *dog' or shelter tents and many have not even these to cover them. My commands since we came into East Tennessee have been on one continuous campaign without cessation. Up the country, over the mountains, across the rivers, down the valley, then up again, driving the enemy before us, then falling back, to drive the enemy up the valley again — thus we have been for four months, until we have run down our horses and about half of our men. But we are enduring it very well, still after the rebels with as much zest as ever. There is a vast deal of excitement in the cavalry service." My last letter to my wife from East Tennessee was writ- ten on the last day of 1863, which I began with a prayer: — "Let us not forget to thank our dear Heavenly Father for all His mercies of the past year. Oh, how good He has been to us, even with all our troubles! How little we have done in our lives to repay that goodness! May He make us more worthy of His mercies and blessing in the New Year, and may He preserve our lives that we may together meet and praise Him. To His watchful care I commit my dear wife and little ones. "I last wrote you from New Market. I was enjoying a quiet rainy Sunday there, reading some good book I found at the house where I was quartered, when about noon I received orders for my division to move forw^ard and attack the enemy and drive him back from Mossy Creek. It was an unwelcome order that rainy Sabbath, but we executed it, and after considerable skirmishing took up a new line two THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 153 miles beyond Mossy Creek. Yesterday Colonel Wolford's division and mine were ordered out at three o'clock in the morning to Dandridge, where it was reported a division of rebel cavalry was encamped. We went, but found the enemy had left the night before, and we returned at 4 p.m. just in time to miss a nice little fight at Mossy Creek. The enemy attacked our outposts at 1 1 a.m. and drove our troops back two miles, but ours in turn drove them back again beyond our lines. It is not often that my men have the fortune, or misfortune, to miss the fighting, as we did yesterday. "We have here our entire force of cavalry, and one brigade of infantry. The rest of the army is at Strawberry Plains and Blain's Cross-Roads. Longstreet is reported at Morris- town with the main body of his army. I suppose General Foster intends to drive him away from there, if possible, how soon I don't care because I want to come home as soon as the fighting here is over, and take a little rest with my dear wife and darling little girls." I may venture, before closing my East Tennessee corre- spondence, to give in part the last of these letters, as a speci- men of letters to a soldier's child, written on January i, 1864; — "Why should I not write a letter this New Year's Day to my dear little Alice? I am so far away I can't give you any nice present; all I can do is to try to write you a good letter. . . . "What have you and Lillie and the other little children been doing to-day? And did you have a Christmas tree and 154 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN a happy time then? Papa has not had much of a New Year's Day. It has been so cold, oh so very cold to-day. Was It cold at home? I could tell you a story about the cold. Would you like papa to tell you a little story in his letter? Do you still like to hear stories? Well, I can tell you part of it, and mamma can tell it over to you and fill it up. "Papa, you know, is away off, out in the mountains, so far away from home, in the army, and you know there are so many poor soldiers in the army. Yesterday, the last day of the old year, was such a gloomy day, it was so muddy and wet and rainy. And then last night it blew so hard and rained so much; it was like a hurricane (get mamma to tell you what that is). And the poor soldiers have no houses to live in, like little Alice, with nice warm beds, and they don't have large tents like you saw out in the woods near home last summer when Uncle Jimmy and the rest of the boys and men were out soldiering. They have to live in the fields and woods, and their tents are like grandma's tablecloth, only smaller, and they stretch that up over a pole and it is open at both ends, and at night two or three or four of them get down on their hands and knees and crawl into it and pull their blankets over them when they go to bed. The soldiers call them 'dog-tents.' Ask Lillie if she thinks it would be good enough for her 'Trip.' Well, last night, after many of the soldiers had been marching in the rain, and when most of them were wet and their blankets wet, they built large fires, but they would n't burn well because it was too wet, and they crawled into the * dog-tents,' and were trying to THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 155 get to sleep when the naughty wind commenced to blow and it began again to rain, and the rain would blow on their heads and they would draw them further into their tents, and then it would rain on their feet, and pretty soon there came up such a hurricane that it blew all their tents clear oif of them, and there they were lying on the muddy ground, and the cold rain pouring down on them. And they all had to get up out of bed. It had rained so hard that it put all their fires nearly out so they could n't get warm. Poor sol- diers, don't you pity them? "Some of the soldiers were out, away oif in the dark woods on that terrible night on picket (get Willie or Uncle Aleck to tell you what that is). And they had to sit all night on their poor horses away out by themselves with their guns in their hands and swords by their sides, watching to keep the wicked rebels from slipping into camp in the dark night and killing your poor papa and the rest of the soldiers. After a while the rain stopped, but the wind kept blowing and whistling through the trees and over the mountains and making such a terrible noise. You can hear it whistle around the corner of grandmamma's house, but It moans and whistles so much louder out here over the mountains, it might frighten little girls if they did not know what it was. Soon the wind began to change around toward the north where Jack Frost lives and from where the white snow comes, and the rain began to freeze, and the ground got hard, and it was so cold, oh bitter cold. The poor soldiers could sleep no more that night, their blankets were all iS6 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN frozen stiff as an icicle, and they had to build great big fires to keep their coats and pants from freezing on them. It was all they could do to keep from freezing; they could not keep warm. "Some of the men, when we went out to drive away the rebels from the other side of the mountain, were hungry and they stopped behind us at a farmhouse to get something to eat, and the wicked rebels caught them and took their over- coats away from them, and took their warm boots off their feet; and some of the poor fellows got away from them and walked all the way from the rebel camp over the frozen ground barefooted. To-day the soldiers have done nothing but build big fires and stand close up to them and try to keep warm. "These poor soldiers and your papa have come away from our homes and left good mammas and dear little daughters to keep the wicked bad rebels from making this country a poor, unhappy one, and that when little Alice and the dear children of the other soldiers grow up they will have a good and a happy country, and won't have to know about wars and such terrible things. You must remember about the poor soldiers, and pray God that He will be very kind to them and make the time soon come when they and your papa can all of them go home to their dear little daughters and good mammas. " Kiss mamma and little Sister Edith for me, and tell your little cousins Gwyn and Foster and Johnny that your papa hopes to come home soon and that he will then come around with you and see them all." THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 157 As intimated in the last letter to my wife, General Foster did make a forward movement with his entire force, and pushed the enemy toward the Virginia line, but thereafter there was a lull in army operations for the rest of the winter on both sides. The time had come for which I had so long looked when I could without injury to the service ask for a leave of absence, which General Foster, commanding the Department, cheerfully granted, and before the last of Jan- uary, 1864, I was on my way home, going by way of Chat- tanooga and Nashville, as the railroad communication was then well established. I have noted the death of my father in April, 1863. He had been actively engaged in extensive mercantile affairs, and while not wealthy (as the world estimates wealth now), was possessed of considerable property, both real and per- sonal. By his will he made me the executor of his estate and guardian of the two minor children. In August, 1863, after I was well on the march to East Tennessee, I received a letter from my brother stating that the court at Evansville had required my presence In the proceedings for the settle- ment of my father's estate, but I obtained a stay until I should be able to get released from my army duties, with the assurance on my part that I would make as little delay as possible. ;' When I reached home I found the affairs of my father's es- tate In such condition that I could not conclude my duties as executor In the time fixed for my "leave" from my com- mand. There was the widow, two minor and four adult heirs IS8 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN claiming attention to my duties as executor. Under the cir- cumstances I felt it proper to tender my resignation from the army, especially as I had already determined to do so at the expiration of my three years' term of service, which would be within four months. There was no reason for me to tender my resignation ex- cept the undischarged duty of executor and my earnest de- sire to be with my family. During my entire army service I had enjoyed good health and was pleased with the active life. I had been reasonably successful In military affairs, and had held large and important commands to the satisfaction of my superior officers, and there was every prospect of my early promotion in rank. But I put aside preferment and possible military distinction for the more Immediate call of family duty. The outlook for the suppression of the rebel- lion was at that date most favorable. Grant had been made commander-in-chief, and was organizing his army for the final march on Richmond; Sherman was preparing for his advance on Atlanta and his march to the sea; and at no time since the opening of hostilities had the cause of the Union looked so auspicious. General Sturgis, in command of the cavalry corps to which I belonged, in forwarding my resignation to the De- partment general made the following endorsement: — "In approving this resignation, I cannot refrain from ex- pressing my deep regret in parting with so Intelligent, ener- getic, and brave an officer. I have for some time been aware of the business and family interests which I feared would THE EAST TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN 159 sooner or later deprive the army of the services of Colonel Foster, yet after so long and faithful service he should be, I think, relieved under the circumstances. His loss, however, will be severely felt in this corps and his place hard to fill." When my resignation became known to the Sixty-fifth Regiment the officers held a meeting in which a series of reso- lutions were adopted declaring "that Colonel Foster, since his connection with the regiment has been unceasing in his labors in, and untiring in his devotion to, the cause in which we are engaged, and has spared no means to render his regi- ment efficient; that he has commanded the regiment with distinguished honor to himself and to the regiment; that in his resignation the regiment and the service have lost an efficient and valuable officer; and that he bears with him to his home our highest esteem and our best wishes as a citizen." An editorial of considerable length appeared in the "Evansville Journal," from which the following is an ex- tract: — We regret exceedingly to learn that Colonel John W. Foster has felt it to be his duty to resign his commission as colonel of the Sixty-fifth Indiana Regiment, and that his resignation has been accepted. We have known for some time that circum- stances — growing out of his father's death, occasioned an al- most absolute necessity for his personal attention to the settle- ment of a vast amount of unfinished business left by the Judge — were conspiring to force Colonel Foster out of the service, but we were in hope that matters might be so arranged as to enable him to remain in the field. It seems, however, that this could not be done, and our Government loses the services of one of its most gallant, energetic, and experienced officers. Colonel Foster entered the service of his country in the sum- i6o WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN mer of 1861, as major of the Twenty-fifth Regiment Indiana Volunteers. He laid aside the profession of the law, and took upon himself the profession of arms, from a conscientious belief that his first service was due to his Government. Without ex- perience, or even a theoretical knowledge of military life when he entered the service, so close was his application to study, that but a short time elapsed before he was a thorough master of all the duties incumbent upon his position as Major of the regiment, or for that matter with any position connected with the regiment. Colonel Foster was a rigid disciplinarian, yet he exacted nothing from his men that was not essential to the effi- ciency of his regiment, or that he was unwilling to perforin himself. After a detailed review of my military ser\n'ce, it adds: — Colonel Foster has proven his patriotism by his actions and in retiring to private life he will carry with him the assurance that he has merited the good wishes of his countrymen and secured the great satisfaction of an approving conscience. From an editorial in the "Louisville Journal" the follow- ing is extracted : — The resignation of Colonel John W. Foster of the Sixty-fifth Indiana Regiment has been accepted. His retirement from the army is to be regretted, as he was one of the most experienced, efficient and gallant officers in the service. After a sketch of my military career, it says : — Colonel Foster accompanied the expedition of General Burn- side in the movement on East Tennessee, at times commanding brigades and even divisions. Just before tendering his resigna- tion he was recommended for a brigadier-general's commission by Generals Burnside and Grant. Important business relating to his father's estate demanded Immediate attention, and forced his resignation. The army and the country alike regret his re- tirement to private life. VIII WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN About three months elapsed after my return home from the East Tennessee campaign when a new appeal was made to me to reenter the military service. General Sherman was as- sembling at and near Chattanooga an army to make his great drive on Atlanta and into the very heart of the rebel- lion. To succeed in his decisive movement he had to draw his supplies from north of the Ohio River over a single long line of railroad communication, reaching from Louisville through the States of Kentucky and Tennessee to Chatta- nooga, and beyond as his army advanced. This line of sup- plies was mainly through hostile territory, and every part of it had to be guarded by armed soldiers. In order to give Sherman every possible trained soldier to swell his army so as to make the movement a success, it was determined to send all the soldiers then guarding this line of railroad to the front, which would prove a large addition to the fighting force of Sherman's army, and to replace them as guards with new recruits, who could be effective behind intrenchments and when on the defensive. Accordingly the Governors of the States of the Middle West made a call upon their several States for regiments of volunteers to serve for one hun- dred days, the estimated period of Sherman's campaign to Atlanta. i62 WAR STORIES FOR IVIY GRANDCHILDREN The call upon the State of Indiana was responded to with alacrity, and within a few days several regiments were formed and in a short time made ready for service. It was the desire of Governor Morton to have these raw recruits commanded, as far as possible, as colonels and other staff officers, by men who had already seen service and were ex- perienced in actual fighting. One of these regiments, largely made up from Evansville and the adjoining counties, ex- pressed a strong desire that I might be appointed to command them, and this action was followed by a telegram from Gov- ernor Morton tendering me a commission as colonel, and making a strong appeal to me to again give my services to the country in this great emergency. I confess the call did not strongly appeal to me from a mili- tary viewpoint, as the contemplated service did not promise any distinction in warlike operations ; but on the other hand, it was a service which would be just as useful in promoting Sherman's success as if we should be sent to the front and take part in the actual fighting, for without this line of com- munication for supplies being maintained his campaign must assuredly prove a failure. I recalled the fact in ancient his- tory that the greatest of Hebrew generals, following the well- recognized rules of warfare, insisted on giving to those who guarded the camp and protected the line to the rear the same honor and emoluments as those who did the fighting. The Scriptural historian has preserved King David's words: "As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part alike." So WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 163 important did he deem this principle that the historian re- cords that "from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day." I had made much progress in the business of settling my father's estate, the cause of my previous resignation, and having secured my wife's consent to my reenlistment, there seemed to be no good reason for not responding to the call of the Governor and my townsmen and neighbors, and within three days after tender of my commission I was on the way to put myself at the head of the One Hundred and Thirty- sixth Indiana Infantry Volunteers. I have indicated that the character of the service to which we were to be assigned, the guarding of the railroad, did not promise any brilliant military exploits, and the extracts which I shall make from my letters may not be found of much interest, but they will at least set forth the manner in which we filled up our Hun- dred Days' service in the cause of our country. The One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana was mustered into service May 23, 1864, at Indianapolis, and passed through Louisville. My letter of the 31st states: — "We left Louisville on Saturday morning, and I stationed the companies along the railroad from Shepardsville to Nolin, ten miles below here (Elizabeth town) on the railroad. I had hardly got the companies distributed, selected my head- quarters here, and got my dinner, before the train arrived from Nashville bringing an aide to Major-General Rous- seau, who was on the hunt for the One Hundred and Thirty- sixth Indiana, which should go to his command in Ten- i64 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN nessee, but he saw by the Louisville papers that it had been stopped, and would go along the railroad. The aide had orders for me to go direct to Nashville at once, disregarding all orders from all sources but the War Department; but as General Burbridge had ordered me to come here, and as I was in his district, and was guarding important bridges which should not be abandoned, I decided to wait until the gen- erals should get their conflict in orders adjusted. We have been waiting in doubt as to our future for two days; mean- while the generals had been telegraphing with each other and with me, until last night I received orders to go to Nashville as soon as transportation was provided. How soon the cars will be ready to take me down I do not know." Within two days we arrived in Nashville whence my letter of June 4 says : — "I wrote you a note yesterday that we would go to Mur- freesboro. I went down there yesterday and returned this morning. I will be off for that place again in an hour with three companies. The rest of the regiment will follow to- night and in the morning. We shall not be quite so well sit- uated there as we were at Elizabethto-^^Ti, nor for that matter as comfortably situated as at home, but I think we can get through the one hundred days there at least tolerably safely, which is the great point with you, is it not? Uncle Tom ar- rived here yesterday from the Sixty-fifth in poor health. I have been hunting for him this morning, but have not as yet been able to find him." This last refers to Colonel Johnson, of whom I have made WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 165 reference in previous letters. Three times he had been granted furlough on account of ill-health, but with the grim determination of a martyr, he persisted in his effort to re- main with his command, at that time at the front with Sherman's army. In my letter of June 8, I give an account of our camp and surroundings at Murf reesboro : — "When we arrived here the general directed me to camp the regiment In the fortress, a large and very strong series of earthworks and rifle-pits, built by Rosecrans's army after the battle of Stone River. The enclosures are large, open spaces, without a particle of shade or grass, entirely exposed to the sun. The troops already in the fortress have erected tolerably comfortable barracks, but there was no material out of which to make any more; and as our men had nothing but shelter tents, I was afraid if put into such a camp the exposure would bring on sickness. So I rode all round the vicinity of the town and found several very good camping- places, and induced the general to let us camp out of the fortress, in such suitable place as I might select. I found a very fine camp in a beautiful grove just at the edge of the town, and adjoining a very fine spring of water, which pleases officers and men very much. Two companies are stationed below on the railroad, and we shall have eight companies here, making a very respectable battalion. "How long we will remain here is very uncertain, but we shall be very well satisfied to stay here during the remainder of our one hundred days. Since we went into camp I have i66 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN been putting the regiment through in drill and duties of sol- diers, keeping officers and men quite busy. Besides these drills, Lieutenant-Colonel Walker drills the officers an hour, and I have two recitations of officers an hour each in Tactics and Regulations. In the evenings after supper I give them a lecture on the Army Regulations, organization, and mili- tary customs, which is quite as profitable to me as to them, as it requires considerable study and posting on my part. We had our first battalion drill to-day and it proved quite inter- esting. At the present rate of daily duties in one month I shall have the regiment in a condition to compare favorably with the veteran regiments in drill at least. I want to bring them home well drilled and thoroughly instructed in the duties of the soldier. I have the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian, but I think the officers and the intelligent men appreciate it. The exercises not only make them better sol- diers, but the active service makes them more healthy than to lie idle in camp. "Our camping-ground is on the lawn in front of one of the finest houses in the State. The surroundings were before the ravages of war very beautiful. The house was the head- quarters of the rebel General Bragg, before he fell back after the battle of Stone River. The owner was formerly quite wealthy, the possessor of a large plantation here and one in Mississippi. He is now keeping a store in town for the sup- port of his family, reaping the reward of the rebellion of him- self and relatives." In my letter of June 13 I give another view of camp life : — WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 167 "Yesterday was our first real Sabbath in camp, and we spent it very pleasantly. We had the Sunday morning in- spection at eight o'clock, beginning it with a short religious exercise by the chaplain. The inspection would have been very creditable to old soldiers. The men had their arms and accouterments and clothing in fine order and looked well. These Sunday morning inspections have a fine effect, it causes the men to clean up themselves and their arms, and makes them feel it is a real Sabbath, which they are likely to forget in camp. "After inspection we were quite liberal in allowing the men more passes for the day, going out in squads in charge of officers. Some went to church, but many went to stroll over the battlefield of Stone River, which is about two miles from town. Major Hynes and I went in town to church, and heard Dr. Gazeton preach. He has just returned from the South. The Doctor is (or was) a New School Presbyterian of some reputation in Tennessee before the rebellion. He is a bitter rebel, but, of course, did not give any manifesta- tion of it in his services. There was a strong New School Church here before the war, but they were all rebels; the church building almost ruined by the armies, and its mem- bers very much scattered. "At five we had preaching by our chaplain, a Baptist brother from Spencer County, a good man but a very poor preacher, an old farmer and ignorant; is worse than the chaplains of my other two regiments. I shall go out of the war, I fear, with a poor opinion of chaplains from personal i68 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN experience. Although our chaplain's sermon was a poor affair, the men were attentive and respectful. Altogether the day was very creditably passed by the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana. But how much more pleasantly and profitably it would have been spent by me at home, with my own family and in our own church." In a letter of June 15 I refer to the character of the regi- ment : — "We are getting along very pleasantly in camp; everything passes off quietly; the men are making a commendable de- gree of progress in the drill, and take to soldiering very read- ily. Thus far I have had no difficulty in controlling the men. I never saw a regiment more easily governed. This comes in part from its personnel. Being called upon for only one him- dred days of service, many business and professional men, who could not well afford to give up their business entirely, can arrange to go into the army for so short a time; and as a result the lower officers and the men are many of them among our best citizens. Besides, the service is easy. We have none of the hard marches and exposures described by me in the campaigning of the Twenty-fifth and Sixty-fifth Indiana. As a private in one of the Evansville companies, was my younger brother James H., who left the senior class at the Indiana University before graduating to serve his country." This letter also relates an event which brings out the ter- rible consequences of war in dividing families, especially in the border State of Kentucky : — WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 169 "I wrote you some time since that a brother of Major Hynes (of our One Hundred and Thirty-sixth) was in the rebel army and had been at home at Bardstown, Kentucky. Hynes received a letter this evening from his father telling him that his brother had been killed in trying to get back through our lines to the Southern army. He was shot in the woods and lay in the bushes two weeks before his father found the body." Referring to the rebel cavalry raids which were just then threatening Washington and Baltimore, I wrote: — "Even if Washington is burnt the rebels can't hold it, and it would be the means, I hope, of raising up the North to renewed efforts, and then there would be a good opportunity to remove the Capital to the West, where it ought to be. We have not suffered enough in the North yet to make the people see that there is to be no peace with the rebels except by their complete overthrow. Otherwise we are disgraced, ruined, for- ever destroyed as a nation. We must and will in the end put down this wicked rebellion. The ways of Providence are in- scrutable. *God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,' but He is a God of Justice and Right, and we will triumph in the end. Had I been an infidel or a weak believer in the righteousness of God, long since I would have been discouraged, but I am not. Let us pray for our country, for the triumph of right, of truth, of freedom, and that God may in His wisdom hasten the end of this bloody war and the re- turn of peace; and that we may together live to enjoy our family and Christian privileges under it." 170 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN On July i6 I report: — "General Van Cleve has been called temporarily to Tul- lahoma, which leaves me In command of the post and bri- gade here, Including Fortress Rosecrans. The change will probably be only for a few days or a week. I would much rather be with the regiment, as I am Interested In the drill and instruction of the regiment, and can spend the time pleas- antly with them. "I am now at headquarters of the post very comfortably situated ; have a room for myself carpeted and well furnished. Captain Otis, General Van Cleve's adjutant-general, a very competent officer, is left here, and he has his wife with him. It looks quite homelike to sit down at a table with a lady to preside, and also to nurse the baby. It was reported that the rebels were crossing the Tennessee River yesterday at Clays- ville, intending to make a raid on the railroad, but I hardly believe it." A bright side of the soldier's life is given in my letter of July 21 : — "We have no news of special importance. I don't have very much to do In my post command, am comfortably situ- ated In quarters, and have about enough business to keep the time from being dull. Captain Otis and his wife and I are the only members of our mess, and we have a very pleasant table. When General Rosecrans was In command here he established a large hospital garden, worked by the convales- cents in the hospitals. It is now producing large quantities of vegetables, and our table is very liberally supplied from WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 171 it with green com, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, potatoes, squashes, etc. We also enjoy plenty of milk and butter, with ice to cool them. The general left his servant here, and he has nothing to do but take care of my room, black my boots, and brush my clothes, etc. There are a number of officers' wives here, and we have frequent company in our parlor of these and occasionally of rebel ladies. So you see the hardships of the poor soldier's life at present being undergone by me are such as I may be able to endure with safety to my life!" In my letter of July 30, I report my return to the regi- ment : — "General Van Cleve arrived last night and I returned to the command of the regiment. I think it was needing my at- tention from appearances. In the two weeks I have been absent there has been only one battalion drill. Although this is Saturday afternoon and we are not accustomed to having drill that afternoon, yet I am going to give them bat- talion drill to make up for lost time. I want them to make a fine appearance when we return to Indiana. We are now drilling in the bayonet exercise, which interests the men very much." A week later I write : — *'We are having as usual a quiet Sabbath. My present term of service is so very different from that which I have heretofore been used to. Before it was all activity, bustle, battles, pursuits or retreats. But now it is all the quiet mo- notony of camp life, broken only by the routine of drill. Heretofore I seldom had a quiet Sunday. Now I can read my Bible and religious papers regularly, write to my dear one, 172 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN and attend Church services. But with all these privileges there is no day in which I miss home so much." Taking advantage of our quiet camp life, I obtained leave to visit Knoxville, where I had spent so many pleasant days the year before. My letter of the 13th of August gives some account of that visit: — "Does it look natural to you to see this letter dated from Knoxville .f* I left Murfreesboro day before yesterday, woke up in the morning and found myself across the Tennessee River and in the midst of the mountains. The scenery is quite romantic and attractive. I felt at once that I was in East Tennessee. There is nothing in scenery like the moun- tains. In a little while we came in sight of Lookout Moun- tain, stretching far away with its range into Georgia, and jutting up with its bold promontory into the Tennessee River, and far above the mist of the river rose the spur so celebrated as Hooker's Battle of the Clouds. Soon we came into Chat- tanooga, bristling with its many battlements, and alive with the hurry and bustle of that great army depot. It is astonish- ing to note what a vast machinery it requires in the rear to support and keep supplied a large army. "The run up to Knoxville was quite pleasant, where we arrived at half-past five in the evening. On my way up to the hotel I met an old Tennessee acquaintance who acted as a guide for me in my raids last autumn. He would listen to nothing but that I must be his guest, so I went around and stopped with him. I came down in town in the evening, and called on some of my old friends who showed much pleasure WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 173 in seeing me again. Today I have been busy in calling on other old friends, and took dinner to-day with Mrs. Locke, who was very glad to have me again at her house. I am to take supper with General Tillottson, commanding the post. I have found a number of the old Sixty-fifth and of my staff here on detailed duty. "They are organizing an expedition for a raid into upper East Tennessee, in my old route of campaigning, and, to be frank, I have been very much tempted to go up with them, as they are anxious to have me. But it would detain me be- yond my leave, and I might expect a scolding from my dear little wife. So I will leave in two or three days and return direct to Murfreesboro." As the term of enlistment of our regiment was drawing to a close, a movement was set on foot to have me continue in the service. The Union men of western Kentucky were very anxious to have me return to that district and drive out the guerrillas, who had been very troublesome after I had left that region. They had been in conference with my older brother George, who took a great pride in my military career and was very ambitious for me. The plan was to have me made a brigadier general, and given a special command of western Kentucky. When this was made known to me I an- swered my brother George that if the command was tendered me without any effort on my part I might take it into consid- eration, but only on the express condition that my wife would consent to it. It is to this plan I refer in some of my letters to her. In the one of July 31 I say: — 174 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN "The expiration of our term of enlistment is drawing near and a strong effort will be made to get our regiment to re- enlist for one, two, or three years. What do you say, — must I go in for it? They are also writing me from Kentucky urg- ing me to come back there and clear the guerrillas out of my old field of operations. I must confess the latter proposition is something of a temptation to me. I would like to spend three or four weeks there in chasing out the guerrillas, and then I really do believe I could come home and stay there in peace." On August 7 I write my wife : — "I had been back from the army just long enough with my wife and little darlings to appreciate how much I had missed during the three years gone, and I do believe when I get home this time I shall be able to conclude that I have discharged my duty to my country and done my share of the fighting, and that I have also a duty to discharge to my family, which I have sadly neglected for the three years past; and I hope that for the rest of my life I shall devote myself to them. Major Hynes was saying to me the other day that you had acted so nobly during my absence he thought I owed it to you and my children when I was out of the service this time to stay at home. But I take so much interest in the war and am so thoroughly satisfied with the correctness of the principles for which it is being prosecuted, that I must con- fess I do not like to leave the army, when all of our experi- enced officers and men are so badly needed, but I hope I will be able to see my duty clear to stay at home. I trust my in- fluence and efforts there will not be entirely useless." WITH THE HUNDRED DAYS MEN 175 I wrote fully to my wife of the plans of my Kentucky friends and my brother, and from my letters it appears they met with her decided disapproval. On August 20 I wrote: **I was sorry on my return from Knoxville and read your letters and saw how you felt about my going into the service again, that I had written George on the subject." And again I wrote: "I was sorry to know from your letter that my letter in which I had said something about reentering the service had given you any pain or solicitude, as I did not design that it should do so. I never yet have entered the service or left home except with your consent or approval, and I will not do it in the future. As I have written heretofore, I think I have served my country long enough to serve my family awhile; and I hope nothing will occur to prevent my early return to my home." Some fear was entertained that the efforts of the Confed- erate cavalry to break up the railroad connections would detain our regiment in Tennessee beyond the term of enlist- ment, but no such untoward event occurred. The One Hun- dred and Thirty-sixth left Murfreesboro on August 25 under my command, passed through Louisville the next day, and the day following took the cars at New Albany for Indian- apolis. The citizens of Bloomington, the seat of Indiana University where the "Foster boys" had received their ed- ucation, having notice that the regiment would pass their town about noon, entertained them with a hurried but sumptuous dinner. We found a warm supper awaiting us and were comfortably quartered at Indianapolis in barracks, 176 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN where we spent one week waiting to be paid off and mus- tered out of the service. During this time we took part in a review by Governor Morton of six thousand troops gathered at the Capital of the State, and in this and our regimental parades we were enabled with much pride to exhibit our accomplishments in soldiery. In the introduction to the compilation of these letters I de- scribed myself in entering the service as a peace man, as hav- ing no desire for military glory, having no special fitness for the life of a soldier, and entertaining a horror of war. The reader of these letters must have noted the gradual develop- ment of a taste for or satisfaction with the service. Even at the outset in Missouri, in describing in glowing colors the ex- posure to the climate and the hard marching, I manifest a certain enthusiasm for my success as a wagon-master, or for my prospective work of an architect of the log-hut winter quarters. I early mastered the tactics, army regulations, and camp regime, and often wrote of my interest in the drill and regimental and brigade exercises. I refer to the gallant charges of our regiment and brigade at Donelson, and speak of some parts of the bloody battle of Shiloh as "grand beyond de- scription." I hardly had words sufficient to describe the de- liverance by our army of the Union citizens of East Tennessee. My intercourse with my comrades, superior and inferior officers and men, is noticed as in all respects agreeable. When I entered the army I was not robust, having too long led a student and office life, but during my entire service I enjoyed almost uninterrupted good health, the letters con- stantly speaking of how the outdoor life and the most active campaigning best agreed with me. So that it has been seen that while at the end of three years of army service I was 178 WAR STORIES FOR MY GRANDCHILDREN rejoiced to go back to my home, to my wife and little ones, an offer to reenter the army was quite a temptation to me. But my life in the army did not alter the views I had formed in my college life of the horror and futility of war, but rather strengthened and confirmed them. I witnessed the sad ef- fects of the conflict in dividing and embittering brothers of the same blood, the ravages of the battlefield and the hospi- tal, the valuable lives lost and the widows and orphans, the enormous expenditure of money, and the great war debt and pensions to be paid by a coming generation. All these evils might have been avoided by a peaceful adjustment of the questions which were settled by the armed conflict. The emancipation of the slaves by purchase would have been many times less than the cost of the war In money, without counting the saving of the lives lost, the widows and orphans, and the bitterness engendered. There is a certain glamour about warfare which attracts the participant, but It is ficti- tious and unchristian. I pray God that our country may be delivered from its horrors in the future. THE END Copyright by Bass and \N ooJworih, liulianapulis SOLDIKRS' MONUMENT, INDIANAPOLIS APPENDIX INDIANA SOLDIERS' MONUMENT Some years after the close of the Civil War the Legislature of Indiana determined to erect a monument at Indianapolis, "designed to glorify the heroic epoch of the Republic and to commemorate the valor and fortitude of Indiana's Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Rebellion and other wars." The corner-stone of this monument was laid in 1887 with appropriate services, including an oration by President Ben- jamin Harrison. It was completed and dedicated In 1902. It stands upon a terrace 1 10 feet in diameter, with a foundation of 69 by 53 feet, the height of the monument from the street level is 284 feet, and is crowned by a Victory statue of 38 feet. On subordinate pedestals occupying positions in the four segments are bronze statues of Governor Morton, Governor Whitcomb, General William Henry Harrison, and General George Rogers Clark. It is claimed to be the largest and most expensive sol- diers' monument in the United States, and one of the grandest achievements of architectural and sculptural art in the world. The dedication services on the completion of the monument were held on May 15, 1902, attended by military and civic delegations from all parts of the State, parades, salutes, dedica- tion exercises, and Illuminations, occupying the entire day and evening. The dedication address follows. Address of John W. Foster, delivered at the Dedication of Soldiers' Monument, at Indianapolis May 15, 1902 Mr. Chairman^ Governor Durbin, Comrades and Fellow Citizens: We are gathered to-day inspired by mingled feelings of joy and sadness, of pride and sorrow. To the generation who have come upon the stage of public life since the scenes were en- 1 82 APPENDIX acted which are glorified in this noble monument, it may well be an occasion of exultation, for they see only the blessings con- ferred upon the State and Nation by the deeds of the heroic dead whose memory we are assembled to honor. But to those of us who were their comrades in service, there arises the sad rec- ollection of the carnage of battle and the wasting experience of the hospital. While the stirring notes of martial music, the booming of cannon, and the waving of flags awaken the en- thusiasm and the patriotic pride of the people, there are many mothers and widows to whom this brilliant scene is but the re- opening of the fountain not yet dried up by twoscore years of weeping. It is for no idle purpose I recall the solemn phase of the pag- eantry of these dedication exercises, for it cannot fail to impress more deeply upon us the debt we owe to the men for whom this magnificent memorial has been raised. It commemorates the sacrifice of twenty-five thousand men — Indiana's contribution to the cause of the Union. A fearful price this Nation paid for its life. A veritable army is this, larger than any gathered under Washington or Scott. In those dark days, when our comrades were pouring out their life's blood on a hundred battlefields, when new calls were made for more men to fill the depleted ranks, when the scales hung trembling between success and failure, it seemed sometimes as if the State could not endure the fearful slaughter. But the triumph of the right came at last. And time has healed the scars of war. We can now look back upon the scene as one only of heroic deeds. It was highly appropriate that on the apex of this shaft there should be placed the emblem of Victory. Never in the history of human warfare has there been a triumph more significant of blessing to mankind. The Goddess of Victory crowns this monument, but it is not in exultation over a fallen foe. I thank God that in the dedication services to-day there is no feeling of bitterness toward the men who fought against our ^dead com- rades. We rejoice to know that they are loyal citizens with us of a common country. We must not, however, belittle the sacri- fice of our honored dead. Right, humanity, and progress were APPENDIX 183 on the side of the Union armies, and it was chiefly for this rea- son we have reared this noble pile of bronze and marble. What the victory they gained signifies to this Nation, to this continent, and to all peoples, has been so often, so exhaustively, and so eloquently told, that I hesitate to even allude to it. But my observation in foreign lands has so forcibly impressed on me one of the inestimable blessings which has been secured to us and to future generations by the triumph of the Union arms, that I deem this a fitting occasion to call it to mind. Scarcely second in importance to the maintenance of repub- lican government in its purity and vigor and the extirpation of slavery, are the reign of peace and deliverance from standing armies, which the unbroken Union guarantees to us and to our children. It requires no vivid imagination to conceive of some of the results which would have followed a division of the states — a frontier lined with fortifications, bristling with can- non and garrisoned by a hostile soldiery; conscription and taxa- tion such as had never been known before; constant alarms of war; and political and international complications which would have put an end to our boasted American policy and Monroe Doctrine. One of the things which most attracts the attention of foreign- ers who visit our shores is the absence of soldiers about our public buildings, in our cities, and along the thoroughfares of commerce. And those who have never seen our country can scarcely realize that it is possible to carry on a government of order and stability without a constant show of military force. In all the nations of Europe it has been for so many genera- tions the continlious practice to maintain standing armies, that it is considered a necessary and normal part of the system of political organizations. The existence of rival and neighboring nations, constantly on the alert to protect themselves from encroachment on their territory and to maintain their own integrity, and the recent advances in military science and war- like equipment, have caused a great increase in the armies, enormously enlarged the expenditures, and compelled a rigorous enforcement of the most exacting and burdensome term of serv- ice; until to-day, in this high noon of Christian civilization, 1 84 APPENDIX Europe is one vast military camp, and, with such tension in the international relations, that the slightest incident may set its armies in battle array — the merest spark light the fires of war and envelop the continent, if not the whole world, in the conflagration. Germany and France maintain an army on a peace footing of about a half-million of men each, Russia of three quarters of a million, and other Continental powers armies of relatively large proportions. The term of military service required in each is from three to four years. To support these enormous burdens the nations of Europe have imposed upon their inhab- itants the most oppressive taxation, and, besides, have multi- plied their pubHc debts to the utmost extent of their national credit. But great as these exactions are, they are as nothing compared to the heavy demands made for the personal mili- tary service of the people. To take from the best energies of every young man's life from three to four years, just at the time when he is ready to lay the foundations of his career and es- tablish his domestic relations, is a tax which can scarcely be estimated in money value, and is a burden upon the inhab- itants so heavy and so irritating that they stagger under its weight and would rebel against it, did they dare resist the iron tyranny of military rule. Thanks to the soldiers who fought triumphantly for the maintenance of our Union of States, and that there might con- tinue to be one great and supreme nation on this continent, we are released from this curse of a large standing army, we are free from its burdensome taxation and debt, our young men are permitted to devote the flower of their lives to useful indus- try and domestic enjoyment, and our free institutions are not menaced by military oppression. To conquer a peace such as the world has not heretofore seen, and to secure a reign of pros- perity and plenty which no other people of the present or the past has enjoyed, did the men of Indiana fight and die. We are here to honor the soldier and the sailor; but it is well to recall that ours is not a warlike people, and I pray God they never may be. An event which greatly attracted the attention of Europe was that when our Civil War was over the vast armies APPENDIX 185 of near two millions of men quietly laid down their arms and, without outlawry or marauding, retired to their homes to renew their peaceful avocations. They had not become professional soldiers. They were citizens of a great republic, and felt their responsibilities as such. In all, our foreign wars have occupied less than five years in a period of one hundred and twenty of our independence. Our greatest achievements as a nation have been in the domain of peace. The one aggressive war in which we have been engaged was that with Mexico, and it was the unrighteous cause of slavery which led us to depart from the line of justice in that instance. It is to be hoped that no evil influence or ambition will ever again lead us into acts of unjustifiable aggression. In the Spanish War, I think I speak the sentiment of the great majority of my countrymen when I say, it was a feeling of humanity which occasioned that conflict. It brought with it results which we could not anticipate and which many of our people lament. It has led to the expulsion of Spain and its bad system of government from this hemisphere, certainly not an untoward event. If it was a desire to benefit our fellow men that led us into that contest, I feel sure the same spirit will control our conduct toward the millions of people on the other side of the globe whom the fortunes of war have so unexpectedly brought into our dominion. We are proud of the record which our country has made in the settlement of disputes with foreign nations by the peaceful method of arbitration. It is possible that all matters of differ- ence cannot be adjusted in that way, but it ofi^ers a remedy which commends itself to the lover of peace and good-will among men, and it is our boast that we have resorted to it more often than any other nation. It is not incumbent on me to give any account of this struc- ture, so perfect in art, so appropriate in design, embracing all arms of the military service on land and sea. I must, however, as a comrade of those whose fame it perpetuates, bear cheer- ful testimony to the generosity of a grateful people, who have reared this costly column. It is in keeping also with the mu- nificence of the Federal Government in all that relates to the 1 86 APPENDIX memory and the welfare of those who fought to secure the Union of these States. In the National Capital and throughout the land, in every city, and in almost every town, there are monu- ments to the Union soldiers, and the important battlefields have been turned into public parks consecrated to the Nation's dead. And no government has been so liberal in its provisions for the surviving veterans. Listen to a few eloquent figures. At the close of the War for the Union our national debt amounted to the stupendous sum of $2,700,000,000. And yet there has been paid out of the National Treasury, since that date, for pensions an amount equal to that sum. Before the Spanish War the pension roll amounted to two fifths of the entire expenses of the Government, and it is even now, with the large increase of both the civil and military list, one fourth of the total. The payments on this account for the last year were about $140,- 000,000. There are now on the roll, nearly forty years after the war, 997,735 pensioners. Of the amount paid out, the pensioners from Indiana receive $10,291,000 every year, and the Indian- ians on the list number 66,974. The two great martial nations of Europe are France and Germany, but their expenditures for military pensions are only one fifth and one sixth of ours. In addition to these unparalleled disbursements, vast sums have been expended for the establishment and maintenance of Sol- diers' Homes in various parts of the country. Surely the old soldier cannot charge his Government with ingratitude. This day constitutes the culmination of the history of In- diana. This imposing monument, peerless of its kind among the nations, the gift of a rich and prosperous Commonwealth, the testimonial of a grateful people to the men who gave their lives to save the Union and perpetuate free institutions, stands to-day, with the quaternion of soldiers and statesmen about it, a memorial of past achievement, an evidence of present accom- plishment in government, society, and industry, an assurance of future prosperity and happiness. It was a wise discernment of the memorable epochs in the history of the State which cause to be associated with this central monument the statues of the two soldiers and the two statesmen who adorn this artistic Circle. APPENDIX 187 Of all the soldiers who were famous in the War of the Revolu- tion, few have rendered more imperishable services to the coun- try than General George Rogers Clark. I have not the time to dwell upon his military career. You recall the repeated jour- neys he made across the mountains from his Kentucky home to implore the Revolutionary authorities to furnish him the means to save the great Northwest to the new nation. The story of his voyage down the Ohio with a mere handful of resolute pa- triots, his capture of Kaskaskia, his marvelous march in the dead of winter to the assault and capture of Vincennes, are among the most thrilling narratives of that heroic struggle; yet history has failed to give him due credit for his great achieve- ment. But for his expedition, it is safe to say that the North- west would have remained British territory, and Indiana would to-day be a crown colony or a Canadian province, rather than a free commonwealth of an independent people. Had the United States been confined in its territorial extent to the At- lantic seaboard, as our ally France wished it to be, the young republic might have survived as a shriveled and sickly nation under the guardianship of France; but the vast expansion to the Northwest, across the Mississippi, to the Pacific Coast, and to the Islands of the Orient never could have taken place. As we look upon that dashing figure, moulded in bronze, let us not forget the great debt we and all this Nation owe to the intrepid soldier who conquered the Northwest. The second period of the history of Indiana is fitly repre- sented by General William Henry Harrison, the territorial Governor and the defender of the frontier. He stands for the men who laid the foundations of our government and society, and freed the territory from the ruthless savage. In Governor Whitcomb we have a typical Indlanian of the early period of statehood. A farmer's son, he had his share, as a boy and young man, of the privations of frontier life, the Herculean labor of clearing away the forests, and bringing the land under cultivation. At the same period of time Indiana was nurturing another young man in like experience and labors of frontier life — that matchless American, Abraham Lincoln. In this era of abounding prosperity and luxurious living, we are i88 APPENDIX too apt to forget that they rest upon the tolls and trials of our fathers. Whitcomb showed the stuff of which he was made by supporting himself at school and college by his own manual labor. He filled many public offices with usefulness and honor, and had the distinction of occupying the gubernatorial chair during the Mexican War, in which Indiana soldiers did their full share toward the victories which gained for us the wide domain stretching to the Pacific. For the fourth period of the history of Indiana, which records the contest for the preservation of the Union, there could be but one man whose statue should be a companion piece to this superb monument. No soldier, no citizen, no man high or low, could take rank in point of heroic service, of tireless labors, of commanding influence, of exposure to dangers, of courage, self- denial and suffering, with Oliver P. Morton. He was a man endowed with rare intellectuality, and made a high place for himself in the Nation as a statesman, but to the people of In- diana, and especially to the old soldiers, he will be remembered as the Great War Governor. It is fitting that the name of another son of Indiana should be mentioned on this occasion. His statue is not in this Circle, but will soon adorn another portion of this beautiful capital. When the corner-stone of this edifice was laid thirteen years ago he took part in the exercises, and, but for his untimely death, would doubtless have been called to occupy my place in this day's dedication. Benjamin Harrison has the distinction of being one of the first to inspire this great undertaking now so happily consummated. He himself was a gallant soldier and would have rejoiced to participate in this pageant. In every department of public and private life he did his work well, and we are proud to honor him as President and citizen. It is a pleasing service to thus recall the names of some of our public men. I heartily believe in State pride. I believe in local attachments. The associations which cluster about the home are the dearest and the best. If we as Indianians have not, in times past, been as conspicuous as some of our neighbors for our State pride, it was not because we loved Indiana less, but the Union more; and since we have forever settled the ques- APPENDIX 189 tlon of State rights, I see no reason why we should not on all proper occasions and with the vehemence of domestic loyalty exalt our State, and boast of its resources, its merits, and its memories. Among these there are none which constitute a nobler heritage or awaken more enthusiastic pride than the services and attainments of our public men. I have not dwelt at any length upon the wonderful prosper- ity which our country is now enjoying, as one of the direct re- sults of the preservation of the Union. We all rejoice in our present high and honorable position among the nations of the earth, and we may well look forward to a continuance of this era of peace and prosperity. But in the day of our exaltation we should remember that no people of the earth have proved to be indestructible as a nation. Every country may carry within itself the seeds of its own dissolution. We need not revert to the history of Rome, Greece, Egypt, or Assyria to learn of the de- cay and death of empires. The archaeologist tells us that in the territory covered by the State of Indiana, there once existed, at a period so remote that no legend of them remained among the aborigines at the discovery by Columbus, a great and power- ful people who built populous cities, were possessed of a high grade of military science, were advanced in the arts, founded dynasties, had an educated priesthood, and were of a heroic frame. I have not time to moralize upon this, but I venture a few practical suggestions which may appeal to us as citizens of a great nation whose prosperity and happiness we desire may continue through all time. If we would realize this expectation we must have an honest government. Federal, State, and local. I have given the figures which show the enormous expenditures for pensions. It is common rumor that this sum has been swelled by perjury and fraud. Every faithful soldier who re- ceives a pension from the Government justly regards it as a badge of honor. He should watch with jealous care that no deserter, no skulker, no unworthy camp-follower, through the cunning of dishonest claim agents, should have the same badge of honor. So, also, bribery and corruption in our public and municipal bodies, may soon destroy the foundations of our 190 APPENDIX national life. All good citizens should denounce and combine to punish every attempt at corruption. As we should have an honest government, so we should have a pure government. I have spoken of State pride. Alore than once I have been made to blush when away from home to hear the charge that the elections in Indiana were sometimes cor- rupt. I trust I may entertain the hope that there is exaggera- tion in this, and that our errors of the past no longer exist. It is a sure sign of national decay in a republican government, when the fountain head of power, the ballot, becomes corrupt. While we must have an honest and pure government to in- sure the perpetuation of our institutions, we should also have an efficient government. And this I think can best be brought about by the universal application of the system of competi- tive civil service. I know that many an Indiana politician has mocked at it as the dream of the idealist, but it is the only demo- cratic method of filling the offices where all applicants stand upon a common level, and the only way of securing the best results in administration. I have entered upon a fruitful theme, but must not pursue it further. I have suggested three points which seem appropriate for our consideration to-day, when we are gathered to honor the soldiers who died that our country might live. We owe it to them to so act as citizens that they shall not have offered up their lives in vain. Let us cherish their memory, and in our day and generation do what we can to perpetuate for the people in the ages to come the blessings of free institutions among men. Should we thus prove true to our trust, this imposing memorial, so patriotic in design, and so perfect in execution, will stand in future years as a testimonial, not only to the fallen heroes of the war, but also to the faithful citizens, who handed down unim- paired their heritage of republican government to mankind. MILITARY SERVICE OF JOHN W. FOSTER War Department The Adjutant-General's Office Statement of the Military Service of John W. Foster Lieutenant-Colonel, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and Colonel, Sixty-fifth and One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Regiments, Indiana Volunteer Infantry The records show that John W. Foster was mustered into serv- ice August 19, 1861, as major, Twenty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, to serve three years. He was subsequently commis- sioned lieutenant-colonel of the regiment and is recognized by the War Department as having been in the military service of the United States as of that grade and organization from April 30, 1862. He was mustered out of service as lieutenant-colonel to date August 24, 1862, to accept promotion. He was mustered into service as colonel, Sixty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, to date August 24, 1862, to serve three years. He was in com- mand of the District of Western Kentucky, Department of Ohio, with headquarters at Henderson, Kentucky, in October and November, 1862, and in March, April, and May, 1863, but the records do not show either the date on which he assumed command or the date on which he was relieved therefrom. From August 21, 1863, to September 5, 1863, and from September 7, 1863, to October 18, 1863, he was in command of the Second Brigade, Fourth Division, Twenty-third Army Corps. The designation of the brigade was changed to the Fourth Brigade, same division, October 18, 1863, Colonel Foster remaining in command to November 3, 1863. This brigade was assigned to the Second Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Ohio, Novem- ber 3, 1863, and Colonel Foster commanded the Second Brigade of that division from November 3 to November — , 1863, and he commanded the Second Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of 192 APPENDIX the Ohio, from November — , 1863, to January — , 1864, exact dates not shown. He was honorably discharged March 12, 1864, as colonel, upon tender of resignation. The records further show that John W. Foster was mustered into service as colonel. One Hundred Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, May 23, 1864, to serve one hundred days, and that he was mustered out of service with the regiment as colonel September 2, 1864, at Indianapolis, Indiana. In the operations February 12-16, 1862, resulting in the capture of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, Major Foster was com- mended by his brigade commander for "the fearless and ener- getic manner" in which he discharged his duties. His conduct was said to be "worthy of the highest commendation." At the battle of Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, April 6-7, 1862, the command of his regiment devolved upon Major Foster on the first day. The brigade commander, in his official report of that battle, stated with reference to Major Foster as follows: "The command devolved on Major Foster, who proved himself every way worthy of it. He was active, brave, and ener- getic, inspiring his men with courage and confidence. His worthy example was felt by all around him." Official statement furnished to Hon. John W. Foster, 1323 Eighteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., October 13, 191 5. By authority of the Secretary of War: P. C. Marth Adjutant-General In charge of office .QR l^^S^ft