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CHAPTER XIX.

WAR OF THE REBELLION CONTINUED-1864-65.

Beginning of Governor Brough's Administration—New Militia Law—Ohio National Guard—Conference of the Governors—Call of Governor Brough for Thirty Thousand Ohio National Guards—Response.

GOVERNOR BROUGH entered upon his term with a more emphatic endorsement than any former governor ever had in the State, receiving over one hundred thousand majority, of which Washington county contributed as follows: Home majority, eight hundred and sixty-five; soldier's majority, eight hundred and four; total majority, one thousand six hundred and sixty-nine. This was a very decided endorsement of the war policy and was an emphatic pledge to devote the resources of the county to the prosecution of the war, not only by furnishing additional soldiers, but money through taxes and voluntary contributions to support the families of the soldiers left behind as the wards of the Nation, and the history of 1863, 1864 and 1865 shows how fully the county came up to the work. The whole amount of money thus furnished can never be known. The value of the service rendered could not be measured by money because it involved the expenditure of the best energies, finest talent and noblest courage, involving loss of life and of all that men hold most dear, but the feeling was benevolent and deep seated in the hearts of the people that no sacrifice was too costly to serve the Union, for without union all the rest was worthless. Now the fine theories of other days, the high periods and eloquence of the statesmen and patriots of the illustrious past were being forged into the life and experience of the Nation. Men were living what before they had only dreamed. The great battle year of 1863 had developed heroes and leaders. The Nation had grappled with and worsted the foe, and it was now only a question of time as to how long the rebellion would hold out.

In the spring of 1864 the legislature passed a new militia law repealing the one enacted the previous year requiring military encampments. The new body of State soldiery thus summoned into existence was the Ohio National guards that was soon to become so famous in the annals of the State.

From the time Governor Brough was inaugurated a new impetus was given to all the military affairs of the State, which in no way reflected on the able administration of his illustrious predecessor, David Tod. Governor

168 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

Brough was a man of strong feelings and convictions, and he greatly desired to see the war end in an honorable peace. He was anxious to help the President and vigilant in watching for opportunities to help on the good work. The invasion of the State during the last year had induced the governor and legislature to favor a thorough militia organization, and Governor Brough, fearing incursions by the enemy along the southern border of the State, sent Ex-Governor Dennison to Washington to urge upon the Secretary of War the necessity of putting State regiments into the service along the border and on the northern line at proper posts, to discourage any invasion from Canada which was feared, but the Secretary denied the necessity. Failing in this, and the circumstances of the situation showing that soon all must either be gained or lost by striking heavy blows, thick and fast, Governor Brough adopted the theory that the next best way to prevent invasion was to keep the enemy busy at home. He, therefore, argued that all veterans and volunteers should be in the field in the immediate presence of the enemy, ready to push him to the wall, and that all soldiers on guard duty should be relieved and sent to the front. The National guards offered a partial solution of the problem, and seeking the cooperation and counsel of the governors of other States, he arranged for a meeting of the governors of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, to be held at Washington, where it was decided to offer the President the services of the militia of the States named for one hundred days. The offer was couched in the following terms:

WAR DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON CITY, April 21, 1864.

To the President of Me United States:

I. The governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, offer to the President infantry troops for the approaching campaign, as follows: Ohio, thirty thousand; Indiana, twenty thousand; Illinois, twenty thousand; Iowa, ten thousand; Wisconsin, five thousand.

II. The term of service to be one hundred days, reckoning from the date of muster into the service of the United States, unless sooner discharged.

III. The troops to be mustered into the service of the United States by regiments, when the regiments are filled up, according to regulations of the War Department; the whole number to be furnished within twenty days from date of notice of the acceptance of this proposition.

IV. The troops to be clothed, armed, equipped, subsisted, transported, and paid as other United States infantry volunteers, and to serve in fortifications, or wherever their services may be required, within or without their respective States.

V. No bounty to be paid the troops, nor the services charged or credited on any draft.

VI. The draft for three years' service to go on in any State or district where the quota is not filled up. but if any officer or soldier in this special service should be drafted, he shall be credited for the service rendered.

JOHN BROUGH, Governor of Ohio.

O. P. MORTON, Governor of Indiana.

RICHARD YATES, Governor of Illinois.

W. M. STONE, Governor of Iowa.

The President accepted the offer two days after, and on the same day the adjutant general of Ohio received a dispatch from Governor Brough to call out thirty thousand of the Ohio National guard for one hundred days' service. They were to rendezvous at the nearest practicable point in their respective counties. A week was given for the muster, and by sundown of May 2, 1864, over thirty thousand of Ohio's substantial citizens reported for duty, and demanded to be sent on to the post of duty. Such an uprising had not been seen since the first alarm of Sumter. Governor Brough at one stroke, like that of a magician's wand, had summoned an army into existence. Over forty regiments, containing thirty-four thousand men, responded to the call and were accepted, thus relieving thirty thousand veterans to go to the front.

The situation in Washington county as to the draft at this time was very encouraging. Under all the calls of 1863, and the calls of March 14, 1864, for two hundred thousand more, there was an excess of one hundred and ninety-two to the credit of different townships, but as the credit of one township would not help the deficiency of another, it so happened that fifty-four men were drafted as follows: Belpre, ten; Decatur, twenty-one; Dunham, one; Lawrence, four; Liberty, fifteen; Ludlow, three.

The draft, therefore, had nothing to do with the great uprising of the National guard, although the guards were, by a subsequent arrangement, credited to Ohio on her quota.

The Washington county regiment of the National guard, organized under the militia law of 1863, remained substantially the same under the new law creating the Ohio National guard. It was the Forty-sixth regiment but the number was changed to One Hundred and Forty-eighth. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Thomas W. Moore, of Warren township, and all but two companies were from Washington county. Three companies having come from Vinton county they were consolidated with the eight from Washington county, and on May 22, 1864, they left Marietta for Harper's Ferry. A fuller account of the services of the regiment will be found further on in this work.

General Banks, supported by Commodore Porter, with a fleet of gunboats, during the month of March, 1864, started up the Red river, and General Steele with the army under his command from Little Rock, Arkansas, to effect a junction with Banks, but the rebels having driven Banks back, turned their whole force upon Steele. On April 25, the brigade, consisting of the

Thirty-sixth Iowa, Forty-third Indiana, and Seventy-seventh Ohio regiments, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Drake, of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, was sent from General Steele's army to guard an empty train of two hundred and seventy wagons returning to Pine Bluffs. The whole force numbered about fifteen hundred, with a battery of four guns. When the train reached Marks Mills it was attacked by Shelby's cavalry, estimated at seven thousand, and the Thirty-sixth and Forty-third, after a gallant fight were driven back; the Seventy-seventh guarding the rear hurried up on the double quick to the help of the Forty-third and Thirty-sixth, running over five miles. They charged the enemy with a yell, and killed them by the score, but found an overpowering force of rebels closing in on them from every side. "They fought desperately hand-to-hand and foot to foot," says an eye witness, but all in vain; they were all taken prisoners except one lieutenant and forty men, who cut their way out and

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escaped to the Union lines after travelling over one hundred miles, swimming many streams and eating nothing for forty-eight hours. Captain McCormick and Lieutenant Smithson were taken prisoners with the rest, and marched from the battle-field to the prison pen at Tyler, Texas, marching fifty-two miles in twenty-four hours. The negro servants of the officers were shot at once after the surrender.

This was the second term in rebel prisons for Captain McCormick, he having been rode down, shot and captured at Shiloh, by the Texan cavalry.

One of the men of company C, Seventy-seventh, tore the colors from the staff and wrapped it around him, when the rebels were within twenty yards of it, cut his way through the rebel lines and brought the colors into camp, in triumph. The flag has nineteen holes in it.*

The Union loss in killed and wounded was about two hundred and fifty, the rebel loss was much larger, estimated at the time by Union officers at one at one thousand. The Seventy-seventh lost as follows: Killed, seven mortally wounded, one; severely wounded, fourteen slightly wounded, seventeen ; wounded prisoners, six; prisoners, three hundred; paroled, seven; missing, eighteen; total, three hundred and seventy.

A rebel officer in a letter to General Fagan, of Dick:., Taylor's army, gives the following account of the battle of Marks Mills:

After driving Steele into Camden, General Fagan, thousand five hundred cavalry for Little Rock.

But fell in with the Army at Marks Mills, where we had a terrible fight. Our arms were finally victorious, and we succeeded in capturing about fifteen hundred prisoners, two hundred and fifty wagons, and five pieces of artillery. It was a complete rout and few of the enemy escaped.

In June the great raid of Generals Hunter, Crook, and Averill, took place. They destroyed the military institute at Lexington, Virginia, and did great damage to the enemy. The Second Virginia cavalry and Thirty-sixth regiment took a gallant part in this expedition.

July 24th the Thirty-sixth regiment was in the battle of Winchester, and lost heavily, and all along the-line the soldiers from Washington county were getting in their work.

The war had now resolved itself into two great movements—Grant on Richmond and Sherman on Atlanta. Sherman had gathered within his grasp the armies of the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas, and after a thorough understanding with Grant, he began his famous campaign against Atlanta. Washington county had companies in five regiments which took part in this campaign, the First and Ninth cavalries, the Thirty-ninth, Sixty-third and Ninety-second regiments, besides men in the Seventy-third, thirty-third, and other regiments.

Sherman, by a series of brilliant flank movements to the right compelled the enemy to abandon every position from Dalton to Atlanta, and fought the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, Pumpkin Vine Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, Nicojack Creek, Peachtree Creek, the battles around Atlanta and Jonesborough. In all these battles,

* Letter of Lieutenant Gordon B. West to his sister Miss Lottie West.

making about one hundred and twenty days of nearly constant fighting, he lost but one—that of Kenesaw Mountain, which was immediately retrieved by another movement on the right flank, compelling the enemy to evacuate Kenesaw. The rebel authorities being dissatisfied with the Fabian policy of Johnson, removed him and placed Hood in command at Atlanta, where, by July 22, 1864, Sherman had extended his lines in the form of a semi-circle, partially enclosing the city and the enemy's works. Hood, on the day named, wishing to begin a strong and aggressive policy, quietly stole out and got on the flank and rear of the gallant McPherson before the movement was fully known to the Union generals. Here occurred one of the most desperate and hard fought battles of the war, the rebels hoping to surprise and beat McPherson, and then each of the other divisions in turn made charge after charge on our lines. The Thirty-ninth regiment was in the thickest of this engagement, and suffered severely, losing one-third of the entire number killed and wounded. Our line was beaten back and several batteries captured, and more than all, McPherson killed. Sherman hurried Schofield After the scene and after a hard struggle, lasting until night, drove the enemy back with a loss of eight thousand, the Union loss being three thousand seven hundred and twenty-two. General John W. Sprague says:

on she twenty-second of July, the Twenty-seventh rendered their greatest service of the war. A great here made the most of Upon the valor of the Six- safety of all our trains, and perhaps that of Army of the Tennessee. It is safe to that say a no regiments had more responsibility in the great battle than did these two, one certainly proved truer to their trust. Twice they charged

the enemy who essayed to take possession of the open field where they wire'figliting, and twice they drove him back ingloriously to the woods.*

Sherman finally, by another movement to the right and rear of Atalanta, cut the enemy's communications, des oyed all railroads leading into the city when it was àbandoned, and on September 1st Sherman's triumphant le ons marched in and took possession. Reorganizing his army and sending part of it with Thomas to Nashville, Sherman retained and consolidated the remaining forces into fdur corps, the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and twentieth, which, together with Kilpatrick's cavalry, numbered about sixty-five thousand men.

After perfecting his arrangements, Sherman by November 11th was ready to begin his famous "march to the sea." The army marched in two columns, the right with the Fifteenth and Seventeenth corps, commanded by General 0. 0. Howard, and the left, with the Fourteenth and Twentieth corps, led by General H. W. Slocum. Each wing had a pontoon train, and kept their line of march about twenty miles apart. Kilpatrick, with the cavalry hovered around the front demonstrating first on one flank and then on the other to deceive the enemy as to the real intentions of Sherman. By thus widening his lines he enabled the foraging parties to cover forty miles of territory from which to obtain subsistence for the troops, and they lived well. On December loth, after marching two hundred and fifty-five miles, being six

* Address at reunion of the Ohio brigade, October 3, 1878.

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weeks on the way, they arrived at Savannah. Soon Fort McAllister fell, and the grand march was successfully ended. It is an extra honor to have been with Sherman on this "march to the sea" for history presents few parallels to it, and though little fighting was done it was a grand achievement, and far-reaching in its results.

After resting and refitting his army, Sherman, on February 1, 1865, started northward through the Carolinas, devastating the country and teaching the South Carolinians a few lessons in the hardships of war as he went. Genetal Johnston having been restored to the command of the decimated divisions of his old army, hurried up from the southwest on the trail of Sherman, to intercept him, but by skilful handling of the cavalry, General Sherman deceived Johnston into believing that he was going to Charlotte, North Carolina, and as soon as the rebel force had concentrated there turned to the eastward and started direct to Goldsborough, where he expected to be joined by the divisions of General Schofield. Johnston, however, by rapid marches intercepted four divisions of the left wing on March 15th, at Averysborough, on a narrow swampy neck of land, between Cape Fear and SOuth rivers, North Carolina. The rebels under General Hardee, estimated at twenty thousand, attacked the Union lines with great spirit, hoping to beat them before reenforcements could be brought up. By a rapid movement to the left the enemy's flank was turned, and being pressed in front by other divisions, they were repulsed.

A gallant officer from, Washington county, General B. D. Fearing, commanding the old "McCook brigade," was on the left of the line, and General Davis ordered him "to check the enemy and hold them if it cost his whole brigade."

The charge of General Fearing was made with spirit and accompanied with hard fighting. The general had his horse shot under him, and was himself wounded, a minnie-ball passing through his right hand from the wrist forward, carrying away the thumb, fore-finger and left portion of the hand. Being permanently disabled by this wound, General Fearing, now at the age of twenty-seven years, was mustered out of the service, having, as a private, taken part in the first, and as commander of a brigade, in the last important battle of the war.'"

At Bentonville, on March 18th, the enemy made their last attack, Johnston hoping by a swift and heavy assault to break the left wing before the other could be brought to reinforce it. Johnston accordingly made several desperate charges on our left wing. In the first, two brigades of Carlin's division were driven back, losing three guns. Slocum thereupon stood on the defensive, placing four divisions in line to the front and making such slight defensive works as they could, while Kilpatrick attacked the enemy on the left. The left received six fierce assaults from Johnston's army. They came on after the old style, line upon line, closing up the gaps made by our fire, but were met by equal discipline and coolness, and by superior numbers. Our artillery did terrible execution on the foe, inflicting heavy loss on his devoted ranks. The rebels had hoped to crush Slocum, but they were disappointed. Night came, and nothing had been gained; and during the night Slocum brought up and

* From General Fearing's Biographical Sketch, Ohio in the War.

disposed three more divisions, rendering his position safe, and Johnston fortified, but made no more attacks. Sherman and his entire army came up next day, and movements were immediately begun to cut off the wiley Johnston, but he decamped that night, and Sherman, with the entire army, moved on to Goldsborough. After paying a hasty visit to Grant at City Point, Sherman again began operations against the enemy, which speedily ended in the surrender of Johnston and the collapse of the confederacy.

While these memorable events were transpiring, and Shertnan was establishing for himself a name and fame equal to that of any military chieftain of modern times, equally brilliant successes were attending the Union arms in other fields, in which Washington county figured.

In August, 1864, Grant desiring to have a trusty lieutenant on the Potomac and Shenandoah, sent

General Phil Sheridan to take command of those armies. Sheridan's instructions were comprised principally in two words —"Go in!"—and he went in.

On September 13th he confronted the rebel General Early on Opequan creek, near Berryville, in the Shenandoah valley, a few miles south of Harper's Ferry, and on the nineteenth, at 2 A. M., began dispositions for battle. General Crook, with the Eighth corps (the army of West Virginia), including the Second Virginia cavalry and the Thirty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, was sent out on the right to turn the enemy's left flank, while the Sixth and Nineteenth corps assaulted the enemy in front, but were met with a vigorous resistance, and Grove's and Rickett's divisions were repulsed with great loss.

From Greeley's Great American Conflict the following account of that battle is taken:

The One Hundred and Fifty-sixth New York had barely forty men grouped around its colors. Captain Rigby, Twenty-fourth Iowa, was seen retreating firmly, deliberately followed by a sergeant and twelve men, who, reaching the assigned rallying point, halted, faced to the front, and gave three hearty cheers. Five minutes later that platoon had been swelled by other such to a battalion; while Captain Bradbury, First Maine battery, had, by Grover's order, posted two guns in a gap and opened on the exultant rebels, who, charging to seize them, received a volley in the rear from the One Hundred and Thirty-first New York, which General Emory had rallied and posted in a projection of wood, with orders not to fire unti! the enemy should have passed them. As they staggered under this unexpected salute, a volley from the newly- formed line in their front sent them pell mell back across the fields to their original cover. . . .

And now a shout from the far right, shut out from view by woods and hills, announced that the turning movement was effected—that our cavalry under Torbert and Crook, with his Eighth corps, have struck the enemy's left flank, and are charging it under a terrible fire. Instantly a redoubled fire breaks out along our central front, in spite of the general scarcity of cartridges; and these being soon exhausted, Colonel Thomas, Eighth Vermont, ordered his men to charge at double-quick with the bayonet. In vain general officers shouted "Halt !" "Lie Down!" "Wait for supports!" etc.; for while some were still confused and vacillating, a staff officer from the right galloped in front, and pointed with his sabre to the woods which sheltered the enemy. At once all dissent was silenced, all hesitation at an end. The whole centre, as one man, swept forward cheering, and plunged into the woods, meeting there Crook's corps, charging from the flanks. All the rebels who could still travel were by this time going or gone.

A height in the rear, still held by the enemy, was soon stormed by Crook and carried, and Early retreated to his second position, Fisher's Hill, south of Winchester, but was attacked by Sheridan's victorious columns, beaten,

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and compelled to retreat ignominiously, followed by Sheridan's cavalry, destroying everything as they went, and what they missed going up they destroyed on their way back, "so that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return."

On October 9th, General Sheridan, in compliance with an order from Washington, went to that city, and by the eighteenth had returned as far as Winchester. Meanwhile, Early, chafing under his recent defeats, had demanded and received reinforcements. Planning to take advantage of Sheridan's absence and effect a surprise, he stole out of his lair at dusk on the evening of the eighteenth, and to insure silence his men were divested of canteens and other equipments that would be likely to make a noise in marching. The Union army, six miles distant, lay encamped at Cedar creek, with Crook's army of West Virginia in front, the Nineteenth corps half a mile behind, and the Sixth corps to the right and rear of the Nineteenth, Kitching's division behind Crook's left, and the cavalry, under Torbert, on the right of the Sixth. This army was perfectly unsuspicious of an attack, as they were in a measure justified in being. Early had divided his forces in two columns to take our army on both flanks. An hour before sunrise the rebels were in position, and had not been discovered by our pickets, and our army slumbered in peace, with the deep slumber of the early morning upon them, when all at once there came a crash of musketry on the morning air, and the rebels rush over the trenches and upon the gallant veterans of so many well-fought fields. They seize their arms, the hurried command is given to form, but the rebel line presses them out of their camp, and by their rapid pursuit prevent any formation. The enemy, perfectly familiar with every foot of ground, rushed on, and the army of West Virginia took its way as best it could towards Winchester. The Sixth corps attempted to stay the rebel advance, and the Nineteenth, to the right, offered a stubborn resistance to the rebel onslaught, but gradually fell back.

The Sixth fell back in good order, and the whole army after losing twenty-four guns and twelve hundred prisoners was in full retreat. The rebels stopped to plunder our camps. Meantime Sheridan riding out of Winchester found the first stragglers of the retreat and at once took in the situation. Putting spurs to his horse he rode with all speed to the scene of action, turning back the soldiers and cheering them with such remarks as, "Face the other way, boys! we are going back to our camps—we are going to lick them out of their boots!" Hastily reforming the broken divisions he arranged anew a line of battle and in two charges sent the rebels flying up the valley, capturing twenty-three guns and fifteen hundred men and recovering the guns lost in the morning, and camping at the old camp so hastily abandoned in the early part of the day. This was the last of the Shenandoah campaign. Early's army was destroyed, and Sheridan had no enemy worth his attention to molest him in the valley.

T. Buchanan Reed has given to posterity the following lines in relation to this famous battle:

Up from the South at break of day,

Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,

The affrighted air with a shudder bore,

Like a herald in haste to the chieftain's door,

The terrible grumble and rumble and roar,

Telling the battle was on once more,

And Sheridan twenty miles away.

But there is a road from Winchester town,

A good, broad highway leading down;

And there, through the flash of morning light,

A steed, as black as the steeds of night,

Was seen to rush as with eagle flight.

As if he knew the terrible need

He stretched away with his utmost speed ;

Hill rose and fell—but his heart was gay,

With Sheridan fifteen miles away.

The first that the general saw were the groups

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops ;

What was done—what to do—a glance told him both.

Then striking his spurs, with a terrible oath

He dashed down the line 'mid a storm of huzzas,

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because

The sight of the master compelled it to pause.

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray ;

By the flash of his eye, and his red nostril's play,

He seemed to the whole great army to say :

"I have brought you Sheridan all the way

From Winchester down to save the day !"

Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan!

Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man!

And when their statues are placed on high,

Under the dome of the Union sky—

The American soldiers' Temple of Fame—

There with the glorious general's name

Be it said, in letters both bold and bright,

"Here is the steed that saved the day,

By carrying Sheridan into the fight

From Winchester—twenty miles away."

Washington county was represented at the battle of Nashville by one company in the First and one in the Seventh Ohio volunteer cavalry, one company in the Eighteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, besides a large number distributed through other Ohio regiments. This battle, fought December 15th and 16th, 1864, was the crowning triumph of General George H. Thomas, a perfect Waterloo to General Hood and the rebel army in the west. Thus ended the eventful year 1864. From the beginning of the year to the end it was a series of Union victories, and Washington county's sons were on every field. All during the great battle year she had kept a steady stream of recruits going to the front, where they stepped into the places made vacant by the loss in battle or in hospital. She had sent out nearly a thousand of her best citizens for the hundred days' service. She had furnished snore veterans for re-enlistment than any other county in the State excepting Hamilton, the number being four hundred and forty, Stark being next with four hundred. The counties of the Fifteenth district stood as follows : Meigs, 245; Athens, 246; Washington, 440; Morgan, 251; Monroe, 238—total number of veterans, 1420. During this year the grand army of the Potomac, under General Grant, had engaged the flower of the rebel army in Virginia, who fought stubbornly for every inch of ground. It was on May filth that Grant telegraphed the Secretary of War:

We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result to this time is much in our favor.

172 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater.

We have taken over five thousand prisoners, whilst he has taken from us but few except stragglers.

I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.

U. S. GRANT,

Lt. Gen. Commanding.

It was this tenacious spirit and steady hammering that gradually overcame the rebel armies.

By the battles of the Wilderness and the other great engagements fought during the year 1864 between Grant and Lee the rebel forces were terribly reduced in number, so also were ours, but the great North stood ready to fill the ranks and to furnish the treasure to carry on the war indefinitely, while the South, already exhausted, could scarcely hope to supply fresh regiments or more money. Thus although Grant did not succeed in giving Lee a crushing defeat, he so weakened him that when he set down before Petersburgh and began his series of movements towards Richmond, he left Washington and the rear in a measure secure from molestation, that city being fully fortified and the fortifications being manned by the artillerists of the reserve—the heroes of many battles—who were not needed at Petersburgh. Among them were our Washington county Pierpont battery, also Huntington's battery.

The war had lasted nearly four years. Long and dreary they were, but filled with intensely exciting episodes. The people of the north were heartily tired of war and longed for peace. They had sent their bravest and best to the support of the Union and were ready for further sacrifices.

The following poem, by J. J. Piatt, was first printed August 6, 1864, in .Harper's Weekly:

THE MOWER IN OHIO.

The bees in the clover are making honey, and I am making hay;

The air is fresh, I seem to draw a young man's breath to-day.

The bees and I are alone in the grass; the air is so very still

I hear the dam, so loud, that shines beyond the sullen mill.

Yes, the air is so still that I hear almost the sounds I cannot hear.

That, when no other sound is plain, ring in my empty ear;

The chime of striking scythes, the fall of the heavy swaths they sweep—

They ring about me, resting, when I waver half asleep;

So still, I am not sure if a cloud, low down, unseen there be,

Or if something brings a rumor home of the cannon so far-from me.

Far away in Virginia where Joseph and Grant, I know,

Will tell them what I meant when first I had my mowers go.

Joseph he is my eldest—how his scythe was striking ahead!

William was better at shorter beats, but Joe in the long run led.

William he was my youngest; John between them, some how I see,

When my eyes are shut, with a little board at his head in Tennessee.

But William came home one morning early, from Gettysburgh last July

(The mowing was over already, although the only mower was I);

William, my captain, came home for good to his mother; an' I'll be bound

We were proud and cried to see the flag that wrapt his coffin round;

For a company from the town came up ten miles with music and gun—

It seemed his country claimed him then—as well as his mother her son.

But Joseph is yonder with Grant to-day, a thousand miles or near,

And only the bees are abroad at work with me in the clover here.

Was it a murmur of thunder I heard hummed again in the air?

Yet, may be, the cannon are sounding now their "Onward to Richmond" there.

For I saw my boys, across the field, by the flashes as they went,

Tramping a steady tramp as of old with the strength in their arms unspent;

Tramping a steady tramp they moved like soldiers that march to the beat

Of music that seems, a part of themselves, to rise and fall with their feet.

Tramping a steady tramp, they came with flashes of silver that shone,

Every step, from their scythes that rang as if they needed the stone—

(The field is wide and heavy with grass)—and, coming toward me they beamed

With a shine of light in their faces at once, and surely I must have dreamed!

For I sat alone in the cloverfield, the bees were working ahead;

There were three in my vision—remember old man; and—what if Joseph were dead!

But I hope that he and Grant (the flag above them both to boot)

Will go into Richmond together, no matter which is ahead or afoot!

Meantime alone at the mowing here—an old man somewhat gray—

I must stay at home as long as I can, making myself the hay.

And so another round—the quail in the orchard whistles blithe—

But first I'll drink at the spring below, and whet again my scythe.

The newspapers of the year 1864 were filled with discussions of the terms of peace and propositions for settlement of the existing war, but nothing could be accomplished. It remained for Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Sheridan to show the way to an honorable peace. At the beginning of the year 1865 Sherman had virtually completed his part in the great drama. Thomas had defeated and utterly routed and destroyed the rebel army under Hood, at Nashviile, leaving nothing to fear in the west. Sheridan, by his crushing defeat of Early, in the Shenandoah valley, had made a good beginning on his part, and with Crooks, Custer, and the others commanding that splendid body of cavalry, started on their great raid toward Richmond, broke down all opposition like a whirlwind, swept through Virginia at will, destroying railroads, canals, and everything in their track, and joined Grant at Petersburgh on March 27th. The final surrender of Lee and his remnant of an army was only a question of time, but Grant had his plans fully matured, and he now considered the time most opportune to close in on the rebel stronghold. He accordingly continued the flank movements to the left, placing Sheridan with his trusty cavalry on the extreme left, with orders to proceed southwestward and develop the enemy's position and strength. Washington county was represented rn Sheridan's cavalry by company F, Second Virginia cavalry, as well as in other regiments. Heavy masses of infantry were sent out to support Sheridan, and then began the most skilful and brilliant handling of large bodies of cavalry of any. part of the war. The enemy were compelled to throw out a heavy force to meet this new movement, and thereby weakened the garrison at Petersburgh and Richmond. A series of engagements took place, in which the Union troops were successful, taking many prisoners, and gaining many new and important positions, so that by April and, Lee, realizing that his extended works around the two beleaguered cities had become untenable, sent the following dispatch from Petersburgh to Jefferson Davis, at Richmond: "My lines are broken in three places. Richmond must be evacuated this evening." It was Sunday, and Davis was at church. He at

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 173

once went out, and by 10 P. M. the rebel government was well on its way towards Lynchburgh, securing their own safety, and leaving the army stores that Lee depended on for support during the retreat at Richmond. Lee, therefore, had to forage for subsistence, which greatly impeded his retreat. It was indeed a losing game from the first, to contend with hunger and greatly superior forces at the same time. Four trains of provisions had been sent from Lynchburgh to Appomattox station, and the rebels were pushing on with all haste to gain that point, but their horses were worn out, and they had no cavalry of any consequence. A man will stand hunger and fatigue and outlast several horses, in an emergency. So with Lee's grand army of northern Virginia, now reduced to barely thirty thousand men, the veterans of so many battles, they could still offer a stubborn resistance; but the dumb brutes, that pulled their wagons and cannon, were totally exhausted. Sheridan, taking in the situation, dispatched Crook and Custer to capture the four trains, intended for the rebel army. This they did by a rapid march, riding tip to the astonished train men before they were aware of their danger; and when Lee's advance guards came up they found no provisions, but saw an impenetrable wall of blue-coats, blocking their further advance. Lee, coming up, ordered a charge, supposing there was nothing but cavalry to oppose him. Accordingly, on came the charging column; when, at the proper time, Sheridan rapidly drew off his cavalry, and revealed a heavy force, of Union infantry, outnumbering the rebels two to one. The rebel line wavered, and seeing the cavalry on the right getting ready to charge their flank, they immediately sent in a white flag, which led to the famous interview between Grant and Lee and the surrender at Appomattox—the final collapse of the confederacy—the consummation so devoutly wished.

The glorious news caused the greatest rejoicing throughout the north. Governor Brough issued a proclamation announcing the great victories, and recommended April 14th, the anniversary of the fall of Sumter, as a fitting day on which to celebrate the fall of the Rebellion.

The people of Washington county needed no proclamation to urge them to celebrate. The news was no sooner received at Marietta, than the streets were filled with a joyful throng made up from all classes, old and young, grave and gay—every one that could make any kind of a gleeful noise was resolved to do it. The tinners did a good business in tin horns that day. Platoons of the best citizens went arm in arm down the street like drunken men, and the whole community was given up to rejoicing.

The programme for the fourteenth was as follows: National salute and ringing of bells at sunrise; 19 A. M., grand procession—Captain A. W. McCormick and Major Jewett Palmer, jr., just returned from the war, and Captain Levi Barber, commanding; 2 P. m., assembly of the people to listen to speeches, songs, etc., at corner of Greene and Front streets, Marietta; in the evening, general illumination, procession, fireworks, music, etc.

Hon. W. E. Stevenson, of Wood county, West Virginia; President J. W. Andrews, of Marietta college, and Hon. George W. Woodbridge, of Marietta, were the orators of the day. Just as the procession was forming a steamer landed, with the left wing of the Eighth United States colored infantry on board, six hundred men, under command of Major Long. They marched up to the common in front of the Congregational church for dress parade, in the presence of the assembled multitude. This occurrence, just at the time, was an eloquent commentary on the results of the great contest for human rights, now so successfully ended.

While these glad citizens were rejoicing and the illumination and fireworks were progressing so happily, there was being enacted in the far off capital of the Nation a tragedy that on the morrow would send a thrill of horror throughout the country. Abraham Lincoln, that evening, was assassinated. Alas! that so sad a morn should succeed so joyful a day. The flags that were displayed so proudly and exultantly Friday, on Saturday were draped in mourning for the great and good man, the martyred President. In compliance with the request of the Secretary of War, the day of the funeral, Wednesday, April 19th, was appropriately observed. The mayor of Marietta issued a proclamation asking all citizens of the city to desist from their ordinary occupation on that day, and attend religious services at the Centennary Methodist, and Congregational churches. This request was generally complied with, and the day was very generally observed. The speakers at the churches were Revs. W. M. Mullenix and C. D. Battelle, at the Centennary, and President J. W. Andrews and Rev. Thomas Wicks, at the Congregational. After the services an immense throng was formed in procession at the foot of Putnam street, under Colonel William R. Putnam as chief marshal, assisted by Major Jewett Palmer, jr., and Captain Levi Barber. They marched in the following order: Music, pall-bearers, colors, pall-bearers, clergy, mayor and council of Marietta, mayor and council of Harmar, citizens. The procession moved up Putnam to Second, up Second to Scammel, and down Scammel to Front, where a hollow square was formed, and the benediction pronounced by Rev. C. D. Battelle.

Thus ended the great Rebellion. Washington county had done her part fully, and with distinguished honor, and it was the delight of her citizens during the next few months to welcome back to their homes and to the ranks of peace, the veterans, the citizen soldiery she had sent forth, where they took their places, started again the wheels of industry and resumed the occupations they had left, and in a few months the blue-coats were lost to sight, but the wearers were destined never to be forgotten.