Our Division under Gen. Rouseau led the advance of Gen. Buell's Army out of Louisville on the first day of October. Kentucky had been having a protractive drought during the latter part of the summer and we found marching over the macadamized pikes to be very dusty and unpleasant. We moved by easy stages. Our course was nearly south-eastward. I remember we passed through a small town called Washington, and on through Bardstown.

I have spoken of our regiment as having been sent to the front without drill or discipline. They had not been instructed in the science of military movements, neither had they learned the significance of shoulder-straps, to any great extent. Probably this was the reason that Private Ginty of Co "G" got into trouble with Gen. Rouseau on our first day out from Louisville. The circumstances were as follows: When about to go into camp Private Ginty (afterward killed in battle) was seen by the General with a chicken in his possession - he may have bought and paid for it -. This was too much for Rouseau. He took it for granted that the chicken had been stolen, and he saw an opportunity to teach the vandals - as he called us - a lesson. He shouted to Ginty to drop the chicken. But Ginty saw no reason for doing so and moved along paying no attention to the order. Now came the explosion. Rouseau sprang in front of Ginty, thrust his revolver into his face, roared: "G-d D-d you, Drop that chicken or I will send you to hell in a second." Ginty looked up at the big general who I suppose looked bigger than ever - looked into the perforated end of the six-shooter, gave a hurried glance at the coveted fowl and let go. It is said that in times of danger people think rapidly. One can imagine that Ginty thought of the amount of work required to dress and cook a chicken, and without grease too, and then the liability of having it stolen. Who knows but that he remembered he was not very fond of chicken anyway. All of these thoughts, and perhaps more, in a second of time. Whatever his thoughts Ginty dropped the chicken, and was spared to render his country eighteen months of faithful service and was killed at the battle of Resaca, Ga. As a result of this important discovery by Gen. Rouseau every officer of our regiment was immediately called to Division Head Quarters whereupon the General gave us a regular round-up on the subject of struggling and stealing. If we had been professional thieves he could have raked us no worse. "We were told that Kentucky was a loyal state, that its people were friends of ours and should not be disturbed. In every instance we had got to respect the rights of private property. No stealing would be allowed. Officers would be compelled to enforce strict discipline among their men." The lecture was quite lengthy and very emphatic. It contained much that was good, but was based upon the assumption that all of the officers and men of the 21st Wisconsin were thieves and robbers, which was not more than half true. Now the fact is that is that portion of Kentucky was extremely disloyal, and the people were very unfriendly to us. But it was Kentucky and Rouseau was strongly attached to his state. After we crossed the Tennessee State line we heard less about the "rights of property".

Our march into Kentucky, previous to the battle of Perryville, was most deliberate. Except for the clouds of dust through which we marched, and a rather scant supply of good water at times, the boys would have regarded it as quite a picnic. We had left our tents at Louisville, but the weather was warm and we got along quite well without them. While our army under Buell was moving leisurely along, Bragg was using every effort to escape from the state with his valuable train. But Buell was never known to hurry under such circumstances.

About noon on the 4th of October our Division went into camp and as usual, a guard was thrown around each regiment. I was detailed as officer of the guard for our regiment. During the afternoon two yellow boys (slaves) came into our camp, followed shortly after by a white man who claimed to be their master. He at once made a demand that the soldiers assist him to recover his chattels. This the men positively refused to do, telling their visitor that they received their orders from another source. He now became extremely abusive, so much so that some of the boys took the gentleman by the coat collar and persuaded him to leave camp in rather an undignified manner. He soon returned however accompanied by one of Rouseau's orderlies and a permit to forcibly take the two yellow boys from camp. But his slaves could not be found, (they may have gone home) which aroused the anger of our Kentucky gentleman to a very high pitch, and brought forth a storm. For a time he was permitted to hurl his insults upon the "niger-stealing" hirelings of Lincoln" as he called the boys. His whole talk consisted in nothing but personal abuse. At length the boys became tired of this whereupon this friendly Kentuckian was forced to leave the camp, and he went hurriedly. It was said that the toe of a government shoe lent assistance to his departure. But this was not the end of the matter. In ten minutes time our regiment was surrounded by armed men, and every one of us was under arrest. The men were ordered to fall into line without arms. Rouseau rode along the regimental front and ordered that every man who had anything to do with driving the gentleman out of camp, to step four paces to the front. Two men advanced who claimed to have had a hand in the fray. Roseau swore he would have them shot, but of course the threat was not carried out. The regiment was released from arrest. I never knew whether the fiendly Kentuckian ever recovered his slaves or not. If he did he lost them later.

No regimental officer was engaged in the above affair. I was officer of the guard and knew nothing of it until the regiment was placed under arrest. I think the boys met the issue about right. It was an outrage to allow such a man in our camp at all, and that our soldiers would submit to a long string of personal abuse from such a person, could not reasonably be expected. Many instances occurred in Kentucky similar to this during the war. Notably one in the 22nd Wisconsin Regiment wherein Col. Utley absolutely refused to allow any citizen there to enter his camp to hunt slaves. The civil authorities thought to arrest him under state law, but he would allow no officer to serve the unit. He would use no efforts to entice slaves into his camp, and he would not allow his men to be used to catch them if they came, and he was right.

Owing to the drought in Kentucky in the fall of 1862 water in places was scarce and of a very poor quality. Many wells were dry and the small streams ceased to flow. It frequently became necessary to move off from our line of march in order to camp near some stagnant pool where even poor water could be obtained for man and beast. On the morning of October 8th while in camp upon the bank of a small creek bed, we were aroused by the booming cannon in the distance. It was believed that Bragg has decided to fight. Indeed it was thought by some that our advance was pressing him so closely that he would be compelled to fight a battle. We at once commenced to move toward the point of the supposed conflict. A march of eight miles brought us to the field near Perryville just in time for the battle. The 28th Brigade was formed in line of battle near some springs upon the left of our line, in support of two batteries. The 21st Wis. was erroneously advanced one hundred yards to the front, and in consequence suffered severely from the fire of our own as well as the Confederate lines. We were surrounded by a very heavy growth of corn which prevented us from seeing the Confederate charging lines, until they were within twenty feet of us. Our gunners upon the hill in our rear could see this line, and in order to break its force, were unavoidably cutting gaps in our line with grape and canister. The regiment was forced to retire to our line with severe loss, including Col. Sweet and four Lieutenants wounded. Major Shoemacher, two Captains, and one Lieutenant killed. - Second Lieut. of Co "G" (myself) was reported killed by mistake. It was Second Lieut of Co "C" instead- . After falling back to the brigade line the regiment fought bravely until darkness closed the conflict. The total loss in the regiment was 65 killed, 81 wounded with several captured. My company loss was 4 killed, 8 wounded and 1 taken prisoner. Col. Sweet placed the regiment in the advanced position in obedience to a verbal order of Gen. Rouseau. I heard the order given, and looking down from the hill-top to that position it seemed to me that we were going into the very jaws of death. Why we were placed in such a position, of course I never knew.

When the regiment had rejoined the brigade I was directed by Col. Starkweather to take possession of a small cemetery about eighty rods to the left. The object was to guard against cavalry from that direction. The grave yard was surrounded by a stone wall, three feet high, which afforded ample protection against small arms. I had almost one hundred men with me, and we had the satisfaction of knowing that we rendered good service. Cavalry formed and charged us repeatedly, but we were successful in breaking their lines before they reached us. We remained here until the battle closed. After dark details of men were made under charge of officers to visit the battlefield and look after the killed and wounded. These parties, both union and confederate met upon the filed under a flag of truce. After doing what they could for the unfortunate ones, each party returned to their own respective lines. Lieut. Crawford of Co "G" went upon the field without authority and voluntarily surrendered himself to the confederates and was paroled by them and allowed to return to our camp. He was sent to the parole camp at Columbus Ohio, where he remained a couple of months. When about to be exchanged he tendered his resignation, giving as a reason, "For the good of the service.". It was without doubt for the good of the service to let such a man go, but he deserved to be court-martialed and punished for cowardice.

Chapter Nine --->